


Can't Go Back

by maliaxprior



Series: Howling [1]
Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, Badass Ryujin, F/F, High School, Lacrosse, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Misunderstandings, Popular Choi Yeonjun, Revenge, Rivalry, Secrets, Supernatural Elements, Wannabe Detective Beomgyu, Werewolf Hunters, Whipped Choi Soobin, human!Yeonjun, hunter!taehyung, police!Seunghcheol, taegyu is crumbs for now, this might feel unoriginal to teen wolf fans, werewolf!Seungwoo, werewolf!Soobin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:49:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 60,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27840280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maliaxprior/pseuds/maliaxprior
Summary: Soobin gets dragged into the supernatural world after getting bitten by a werewolf who's responsible for the series of murders that's been going on in the town. Now, Soobin has to struggle keeping his werewolf identity a secret while saving himself from the hunters. The fact that his love interest, Yeonjun, comes from the hunter family does not help the situation at all. Oh, and the killer werewolf might have a plan for Soobin too.Simply, a Teen Wolf AU.
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Howling [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037844
Comments: 11
Kudos: 63





	1. A Trip Into the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> Rather than this being a TXT's Teen Wolf au, basically, it became: imagine Teen Wolf but played by your kpop idols (with txt as centers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryujin and Beomgyu ends up having an uncanny experience when they plan to find the other half of a dead body in the woods.

"This sleepover is boring," Beomgyu stated blankly.

Soobin looked up from his phone and stared at Beomgyu who had shown up at his house in the evening, unannounced and now, was non-chalantly finishing up Soobin's Pringles jar, while Soobin stayed on his phone, refusing to acknowledge Beomgyu's presence, or at least he tried to.

"First of all, who's saying it's a sleepover? Second, you invited yourself here," Soobin gave a dirty look.

Beomgyu sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I should have made better friends,"

"If you were capable," Soobin remarked. "Besides, you actually love my presence," he grinned.

"Yeah, right," Beomgyu gave an annoyed smile. Satisfied with the reaction Soobin got from Beomgyu, he went back to his phone.

"Soobin," Beomgyu spoke up after some minutes has passed, "I am definitely not saying this because I am scared or anything, but I think something just went past your window,"

Soobin rolled his eyes, "Ah, really?"

Of course, Soobin didn't believe him, but he still got up to check. He noticed Beomgyu trailing behind him, almost hiding. _Haha, such a_ _scaredy_ _-cat_.

The faint autumn wind suddenly hit them as Soobin lifted the window. He looked around. _Nothing._

"Heh. See, there's no one here," Soobin turned to Beomgyu who looked unsure.

As Soobin turned back toward the window, he was met with the face of a certain blue-haired person who popped out of nowhere and all three of them screamed loudly.

The voice of Soobin's elder brother asking if everything was okay back here got them to stop and brought them back to reality. Soobin quickly shouted an affirmative answer to his brother and got back to the situation at hand.

Ryujin peeped from behind the window, standing, in reality, tip-toeing on the ground but no one dare point that out to her. She spread her hands on the wooden window frame and rested her cheek on one of her hand, looking at Soobin and Beomgyu and putting out her well-known mischievous smile.

"Ryujin," Soobin huffed a breath. "We have a front door for a reason," he spoke with fake concern in his voice.

"Well, I heard you boys were having such a fun time in your sleepover, so I didn't want to interrupt," Ryujin said casually and climbed over the window frame and hopped into Soobin's room easily. Soobin eyed the action and made a mental note to stick close to the girl, because she is the only one who can fight for his safety if the apocalypse ever hit. She might the tiniest out of the three, but when it will come to survival of the fittest, the two boys wouldn't even stand a chance.

"Who told you we are having a sleepover?" Soobin sneered.

Beomgyu cut through Soobin's question and laughed nervously, "Haha, that was obviously sarcasm, Ryujin. You should learn to differentiate them,"

"Whatever," Ryujin pouted. She was not interested in Soobin and Beomgyu's neverending, useless, seldom interesting banters this particular night.

She scanned the room. "You guys didn't order any meals, right?"

It was a miserable sight when Beomgyu looked at himself still holding the Pringles jar and then stared back at Ryujin, while Soobin couldn't care less.

"Well, since I am here, why don't we get something to eat?"

Soobin had no plans of going out tonight, but he looked at his overly enthusiastic friends who had barged in his house uninvited, and now proceeded to get themselves ready to go out without even waiting for Soobin's answer. There was a big chance that Beomgyu had conspired with Ryujin and called her over specifically to bring Soobin out of his house. _Hmm, but a burger wouldn't be so bad._

As Soobin put on his coat and came out through the front door, that existed for a reason, with Beomgyu who, Soobin thought, was underdressed for the current weather, their night venture with Ryujin began.

"So, guys, guess what I heard from a police conversation while coming here?" Ryujin started.

"What is it?" Beomgyu took an interest in the topic.

Ryujin tried to put a mysterious silence and said, "Someone reported to have found a dead body in the woods,"

"Whoa. In our town?"

"I know right? A good number of police cars passed me by on my way,"

"Why do they need so many people to pick up a body?" Soobin asked.

"That's the interesting part. They only found half," 

"Wow, I don't know about you guys, but that's kinda scary," Soobin remarked.

"That's exactly why we should check it out," Ryujin said excitedly.

"Yeah, totally," Beomgyu joined. It was so obvious that he would be onboard with this idea.

Soobin scoffed, "No way,"

On their way to the burger joint, they heard occasional sirens and when they were nearing the place, the blue-red light from the police car posted at the edge of the forest came into the sight. There was fewer police than cars standing at the area who, Soobin assumed, were waiting for the rest of the team to come back from the rummage through the woods. It had nothing to do with Soobin. He wasn't one of those people with curious minds such as his friends. He wanted to get some fast food and go home to resume playing on his gaming console.

At some point in Soobin's meal, he couldn't stand those mysterious murders and dead bodies Ryujin and Beomgyu kept talking about throughout the whole time and he stopped listening to his friends to focus on finishing his food fast so that he can get out of there. Nah-uh, he wasn't going let them make him their third-wheel for the night.

"So, you coming?" Beomgyu nodded at Soobin expectantly.

"Where?" Soobin raised his eyebrows. "You know what, I don't care. I am not going to go anywhere with you guys,"

"You're the one who bitches about nothing interesting happening in this town,"

Soobin remained expressionless, which interpreted as _so-what-I-am-not-going-to-look-for-half-a-dead-body-in-the-woods-at-night_ look to Beomgyu.

"Fine. Sit this one out like you always do," Beomgyu commented and aggressively locked his arms around Ryujin's to tug her out of her seat.

"Wait, I didn't finish my burger or my fries," she protested.

"Or your coke," Soobin chimed as he saw the boy towing Ryujin out of the restaurant as she kept looking back to her food.

"That was not dramatic at all," Soobin stated to no one. He started debating whether he should really leave just like that.

As Beomgyu and Ryujin walked arm in arm toward the commotions of uniformed people with star-shaped badges on their chest, they saw a tall scrawny boy talking to the Deputy Sheriff Choi.

"Oh look, your brother's here too," Ryujin pointed out and chuckled.

"Yeah, that's our cue to run," Beomgyu redirected her into the forest immediately.

They walked silently through the foggy atmosphere of the property. Every once in a while, they would step on a crunchy fallen leaves and Beomgyu would tighten his grip around Ryujin's arm and would look at Ryujin for assurance to continue their journey. She didn't know why he even chose to come here if he was that scared.

"What are you doing?" Ryujin spoke as Beomgyu halt in his step and started to take off his _hoodie?_ \- no, _cardigan?_ She had no idea.

"What? I was trying to be a gentlemen," he inclined to put the garment on her, but she just backed away.

"Really, how?"

"You looked cold," he innocently stated, and then a _playful_ , but she would posit for _annoying_ , smile crept up his face. "Oh, wait, did you think I was gonna jump you?"

"Doesn't matter. I can kick your skinny butt any time of the day," she looked around. "or night,"

"Why are you even wearing a skirt in this weather?" they continued walking.

"You don't get to say what I wear. Besides, I thought I looked good in this fit,"

"We were just going to get a burger,"

"and now we are going to see our first real dead body. You gotta be prepared for change of occasion," both of them shared a fake smile.

"You don't need time and place to dress nicely, or in your case, badly," Ryujin commented.

"Hey, at least, I am not cold,"

"I wasn't cold. You just assumed I was,"

Beomgyu stopped Ryujin and put his palms on her cheeks to check. "You're right. You're not cold,"

"That's right," she grinned.

"How are you so warm? Shin Ryujin, did you transplant your heart for a heater?"

"Oh, screw you, Choi." she passed by Beomgyu as he busied himself in cackling.

When he caught up to Ryujin, she was looking serious.

"Hey, you're not upset, are you?" he inquired.

"Shut up, I am trying to concentrate,"

Beomgyu was relieved that he didn't offend the girl. "To do what? Witchcraft?"

"Did you not hear that?"

"Hear what?"

He returned the same confused expression she had on her face and saw her dismissing the expression as soon as she found him looking at her.

"Uh, just-" she stuttered. "I think I heard Soobin screaming,"

Beomgyu looked around him. He wasn't particularly looking for anything, just thinking how could it happen that two people being in the vicinity and only one of them hearing something as loud as scream. Sure, he was absorbed in laughing, but he would've heard. The forest was so silent. And if hearing it wasn't bizzare enough, she even associated a name with the source.

"You're not pranking me, are you?" he stared suspiciously at Ryujin who just looked distracted and deep in thoughts. "The last place I would expect Soobin to be is the forest, especially if there are people out there searching for a dead body in here,"

"No, come on. We should go," she pulled the boy and tried to pace back on the path they walked in.

Beomgyu could've sworn he heard a howling from the back and that's when the panic set in. All those years of watching horror movies where a boy and a girl makes weird jokes while heading to a haunted place despite restriction washed over his thoughts. _Damn it, he should have just let Ryujin finish her burger._

He couldn't see or do anything at those moments with the tightened grip Ryujin had on his wrist as they kept running, but his eyes fell on a side where the fog had cleared up a bit and caught the sight of red-eyes. He froze for a split second and then continued running with his brain on auto-pilot looking away from the eerie view he had just received with no intention to figure out what he had seen. He looked to his front to find that his friend had managed to steer both of them into the clearing outside the forest. He noticed the red-blue light still flashing in the distant.

"Never doing that again," Beomgyu exclaimed as he bended over and held onto his knees, huffing rapidly. He glanced at Ryujin. For a person who ran paranoidly through the forest, she sure wasn't taking any deep breaths. He wondered if her heart was racing as fast as him because she didn't look like that was the case at all. She looked rather calm. He assumed being athletic paid her off. He made a mental note to stick next to the girl in case the apocalypse ever hits because he is hopeless and tonight's experience speaks for itself.

"What the hell are you two doing out here?"

Beomgyu looked up from his hunched position to find his dear elder brother standing with a disappointed-but-not-surprised expression on his face.

"Why aren't you at home?" Seungcheol inquired.

"I told you I would be at Soobin's,"

"This place ain't Soobin's," he deadpanned.

"Well, he's just across the street, sitting in the restaurant," or not, depending on whether the scream earlier actually belonged to Soobin.

His brother squinted his eyes towards the restaurant Ryujin and Beomgyu had gone to, before they became the protagonists of a horror story. The teenagers did the same, not catching any hint of the mentioned tall guy inside. It was just the scrawny kid who was talking to the police earlier, eating alone.

"Then, why aren't you two with your friend? Didn't you see what's happening out here?" Seungcheol sounded less angry and more stressed.

"Ah, big brother- Mr. Choi. We are sorry. We couldn't keep our curiosity inside the bag and decided to snoop around a bit. We didn't even go past that area," Ryujin pointed to a close area, _a total lie,_ "but we regret that fact now," she spoke with a formal sweet tone and small smile, which felt so foreign in Beomgyu's ears and eyes, but he definitely agreed to the last part of what she said.

Beomgyu delivered his share of dialogues after getting nudged by Ryujin. "Yes, we are extremely sorry and will be heading home right this minute,"

"You do that," The crease in Seungcheol's forehead diffused.

Good, his brother let go of the situation. Not that he expected otherwise. His brother is easily convinced, and could be a pushover sometimes.

They both nodded toward the deputy sheriff.

"Straight home," the deputy sheriff restated. "And no coming out of the house until I return or you leave for school,"

"Got it, bro."

Beomgyu and Ryujin walked past the restaurant in between the next few minutes.

"Hey, what about Soobin?" Beomgyu asked with worry laced on his voice.

"Well, he isn't inside. Knowing him, he probably left,"

"You said you heard him scream," he knitted his eyebrows together.

"Did I? I've must have mistaken. I just heard a scream. There's no way I can know who it was, right?" She dismissed him, but Beomgyu didn't want to dwell on it.

"Let's just call him," he brought out his phone.

"Yeah," she turned away as nervousness started to show up on her face, but Beomgyu couldn't see that.

"He isn't picking up,"

"He probably just went home, you know. And, well, there's a lot of officers in the area. So, nothing could have happened to-"

"Yeah, you know what, I will just leave a text for now and probably call him later. Let's get you home first,"

If this was a regular night, Ryujin would have probably joked about how Beomgyu was trying to act like he was her boyfriend and how she was more capable of sending him home instead, but today, she had a lot of other thoughts bugging her head, and most of them involved Soobin who had left the restaurant without leaving any text or phone call.


	2. Phantom Wound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin tries to recollect the events of the previous night at the woods to find the explanation of his recently gained powers.

Soobin was looking at a dead body laid in front of him at the moment, he wasn't sure how he ended up here or why he wasn't scared or uncomfortable. It's probably because it all felt like a deja vú and seeing things through another person's eyes at the same time. He had a feeling even worse things awaited him if he took his eyes off the body and moved to next scene. What next scene? Oh, the one where an overwhelming painful sensation pulsates and transits through his entire body jutting out from one side of his waist- the body part that was giving him a persistent agonizing feeling he couldn't simply brush aside. He couldn't figure out how much time has passed until the feelings became a distant memory and he started feeling that he was seeing things through someone else's eyes again.

Soobin heard chattering of birds outside, a little louder than he was habituated to. The morning light fell over his eye-lids refusing to let him go back to sleep. He shouldn't go back to sleep, that's right, he had school today. He was half-hoping for it to be so late that he could make excuses to himself about skipping school for the rest of the day. He was just so exhausted and was in a terrible mood after waking up from the strange and vivid dream. The red eyes he remembers seeing in the said dream engrossed his thoughts and he felt so intimidated by it even after getting back his awareness.

He shifted in his bed- it's _his bed_ , right? The furniture felt stiff on his back, and an uneasy feeling settled in his body and mind. He sat up from the uncomfortable position he was laying in, and scrutinized his surrounding. The wooden floor and walls were all black embodying occasional crack and holes through which sunlight was seeping in. In some places, edges of the planks were even sticking out. The thing he was laying on was just wooden cot with nothing on it. All the other furniture had fissures on their framework. The house looked ghastly. Soobin was just grateful it was morning and his mind was not rushing off to mistake the appliances in the house for something else.

Soobin craned his neck to find a fully intact furniture, the only one of its kind here, in one side and then he realized he was not alone in this residence. A dark haired male was submerged in sleeping on that couch he had just laid his eyes on. The guy looked scary with a slight frown on his face even though he was asleep. Soobin didn't know if he met the person in a different situation, specially not in a haunted house when he didn't know how he ended up here, would he think the other was intimidating or not. Truthfully, he was more interested in getting out of the place than knowing that answer.

Soobin got up as soundlessly as he could. He found that his t-shirt was tattered in the area around a side of his waist. The coat that he had been wearing last night was stripped off and currently laid on the table in front of the slumbering male along with his wallet and phone. He said a silent prayer before extending his arm to reach for the items and felt relieved when he became successful in his attempt. The floor would creak every now and then when he took a step toward the non-existent door to exit and he would look back to check if the stranger showed any sign of waking up. After setting foot out of the wooden platform of the house, he didn't fear for any creaking sound and therefore he resorted toward leaping and running the rest of the way. When he reached a considerable amount of distance from that nightmare inducing residence, he opened his phone to look at the map. The forest was not a place he frequented, therefore he needed navigation.

As the screen lit up in Soobin's phone, he was surprised noticing that his notification section was fairly empty, meaning there was no text or missed calls from his dad or his friends. He opened his inbox to find the only unopened, and latest, message were just some curses sent from Beomgyu. He guessed that would be the responses for him leaving abruptly, not that he meant to do it. He wanted to follow his friends. Things went downhill from there. Some animal jumped on him, injuring on some body part, he can't remember but he assumed that would be his waist if the tears in his clothes tell him anything. Maybe the strange men found him laying unconscious in the middle of nowhere and decided to give him shelter in that broken house. Well, the man could've instead just called someone on Soobin's contacts to pick him up, or asked for help from any patrolling police nearby - Soobin knows, there were plenty of them in the area last night. But he can't really hope a presumably homeless man (because he refuses to call that a real home) to be that responsible.

Soobin hoped the explanation he constructed for the situation was how everything went down in reality. However, the fact that a message 'I am spending the night with Beomgyu, dad' sent from the his phone around nine-thirty inaugurated the glitches that was going to be presented in his version of the story. Yes, he didn't exactly remember many details of the night but he can confirm that he didn't send that message. As if to prove his point further, there was a 'Sorry I left without you and went home, haha' message sent to Ryujin in response to her expressing worries about his missing whereabouts. Whoever did it didn't bother to send any message to Beomgyu, _poor guy,_ hegot ignored even by a stranger and his probable kidnapper.

Soobin thought he should get out of the forest first and then think about what could have happened last night and who would have wanted to take him away to do what. So, he kept an eye on his surroundings and followed the map to find an exit and hoped to eventually return to the safety of his house.

Soobin found his house empty when he arrived and he didn't have to sneak in without his brother knowing, like he decided he would. He didn't want to worry him, seeing as he already made it so far unharmed. Once inside, he began to check all the other conversation in his phone from last night. His brother had messaged him asking about his whereabout because he had to take an emergency shift call from the hospital he worked in, that was met with staying-at-Beomgyu's response. Several missed calls and not seened messaged from Beomgyu which first started with 'lol where are you' and ended with plain curses. Ryujin gave him three missed calls which were not entertained except for the one text she sent.

Soobin checked the time and found that he really didn't have much time left for preparing himself to go to school. He went to his room, took off his clothes which had turned filthy from the whole affairs in the forest. He saw himself at the mirror. There were no trace of any injuries, just a ghosted feeling of pain around the waist as he stroked his hand over the area. The red eyes- sharp shaft-like material digging through his sides- a howling- flashed within his mind and he couldn't differentiate those scenes as part of his dreams or reality.

There was five minutes left for his first class by the time he was pulling the door handle to the entrance and so, he had to start walking to his classroom instead of trying to find his friends. He knows it's the first day of school after summer break but the amount of noise coming from the hallways was overwhelming. Random gossips and unrelated conversation infiltrated his ears and he couldn't concentrate anywhere. He have never experienced hungover, but he has watched plenty of them on television and he was starting to feel like he is having one. His probable kidnapper didn't happen to intoxicate him with something, did he? That was unlikely because he was fine moments ago. The blaring of the overhead bell pierced his hearing and he visibly contorted his body wrapping his hands over his ears, that earned him a few look from the surrounding students. He sighed thinking what other inconveniences were going to show up now that his day is off to a bad start with his thoughts still lingering on the happenings of last night.

The teacher had left his belongings on the desk to take care of something outside the classroom and it's not like Soobin was particularly looking forward to socialize but seeing how most people had friends in the class made him feel bored. He heard a phone ring in his earshot and he looked around the room to find the person who didn't bother to put his phone in vibrate so that he can scowl at them for disturbing his peace.

"Mom, three calls on my first day is a little overdoing it," a male voice spoke up and chuckled as he answered the call.

Soobin couldn't find anyone talking on the phone, no one even had their headphones on, given the class had actually started because their teacher did show up. His eyes fell on a reddish-brown haired boy sitting outside on the bench with the phone pressed between his ear and his shoulder as his hands were busy rummaging his bag.

"Everything except for pen," the boy replied the person, supposedly his mom, on the other end. Soobin had no idea how he could hear the conversation from this far away, but he was intrigued by the good looking boy sitting there so he kept listening to the sounds.

"Oh my god, I didn't actually forget a pen," the boy exclaimed. "Okay, I gotta go. Love you," he disconnected the call.

Soobin saw his teacher who had left the classroom approaching him. "Sorry to keep you waiting,"

The boy walked beside his teacher. Soobin could take a better look at him now, and he wasn't really conscious about how his heartbeat had started to pick up its pace.

"So you were saying San Jose isn't where you grew up?" his teacher asked.

"No, but we lived there for more than a year, which is unusual in my family," Both of them took off from his purview since they had entered the school building.

"Well, hopefully, Beacon Hills will be your last stop for a while," Soobin could still hear them talking and eventually he heard footsteps outside the room. The door pulled open and the two people came in.

"Everyone, this is our new student, Choi Yeonjun."

Choi Yeonjun stood next to the teacher's desk humbly and opted to look forward and smile toward the class. His cheeks scrunched up from the action and his already fox-like eyes stretched into a crease. Soobin was aware of his fast beating heart now. Choi Yeonjun was the prettiest human being he had seen.

"Please, do your best to make him feel welcomed," the teacher announced before sitting on his chair and pointed Yeonjun toward an empty seat.

Yeonjun walked through an isle of student desks to take a seat behind Soobin. Soobin picked up a pen from his purse and turned around to hand it to the newcomer. Yeonjun raised his eyebrows, confusion smeared over his face and took some time to realize Soobin was lending him a pen, but he couldn't find the answer how the black-haired boy knew that Yeonjun had forgotten to bring that essential stationery today.

"Uh, thank you..." Yeonjun stared at Soobin expectantly.

"Choi Soobin," He smiled at the former, with his dimples growing visible on the side of both the cheeks.

"Choi Soobin," Yeonjun repeated, a smile embellishing up his face . "Thanks,"

Soobin hummed in response and turned forward contended.

When the class came to an end, Soobin contemplated whether he should talk to Yeonjun but he couldn't come up with any fascinating topic or any attractive punchline that can potentially impress the guy. Soobin didn't know why he couldn't just be himself and had the urge to appear charismatic to the boy. On another thought, he probably does. He is rarely ever interested in people and all his friendships or even acquaintances has started with other people approaching him. He sure as hell never got attracted to anyone like that and he lacked any sort of experience of making a move. Maybe he should start watching romantic-comedies, maybe Yeonjun will be worth sitting through those movies.

Soobin spent so much time whacking his brain, which was already in a bad condition today from not being able to connect the dots of what's been happening with him since last night, that Yeonjun had walked out to his next class. He dejectedly walked out toward his locker and found Yeonjun nearby tending to his own locker. They made eye-contact and Yeonjun smiled while waving at him before turning to face the girl who came to stand next to him.

"Wow, killer jacket," Soobin heard Yeri compliment Yeonjun. He still couldn't figure out the mystery to how he could listen from so far away.

"Thanks. Nice dress," Yeonjun praised back.

"Uh-huh. You might be one of the few boys who own an admirable fashion sense around here,"

Soobin wondered why he couldn't come up with conversation-starters such as that. Oh, he knows. He knows nothing about fashion. None of the people he frequently interacts knew anything about fashion. Yeri might just be right. People lacked fashion sense in this school.

"You're a freshmen?" Yeri asked. Soobin saw Jihoon walking to stand next to Yeri and, decided to turn away just enough to see their interaction without being obvious. It wasn't really surprising to see Yeonjun attracting popular people to himself, he certainly looked the part but Soobin didn't want to stereotype him.

"No. A sophomore. Just moved here,"

"Oh, wow. Welcome to our town. I am Yeri. Junior year."

"This is Jihoon. A sophomore just like you," Yeri pointed. Jihoon greeted amiably.

"Yeonjun. Nice to meet you two,"

"Wait," Soobin watched Yeri hand him a piece of paper with the corner of his eyes.

"What's this?"

"Address to my house," Yeri flashed an amused smile. Yeonjun looked disturbed.

"I like you. That's why, I am inviting you to my party this weekend,"

"I think I might be busy,"

"Because you think I am asking you on a date?"

"You're not?"

"Well, you're new, so you probably don't know, but you're not that lucky to get asked out by Yeri on your first day in this school," Jihoon commented and looked at Yeri who just had smug smile plastered on her face. "At least, not before attending one of her parties,"

"Noted," Yeonjun laughed politely. "Well, I am still busy unpacking, but I will try to make it to the party,"

"You can meet new people there, you know, _the_ _cool ones_ ," Jihoon added. 

"Yeah, thanks for inviting me then,"

There it goes. Jihoon and Yeri has swept Yeonjun into joining their clique - essentially fueled by seeing themselves above most people and labelling anyone they don't approve as unimportant. Maybe Soobin didn't have to whack his brain for punchlines anymore because Yeonjun would never talk to him if he manages to ends up in that clique. 

Soobin directed his focus toward his locker and found a lean pale boy almost his height fumbling with the lock, _his lock_.

"Excuse me, I think you've got the wrong locker number," Soobin informed him.

"Oh?" The boy unfolded a paper he brought out from his pocket and squinted at its content, supposedly rechecking his number. "I am sorry, mine's a different one," he finally said and moved a couple of locker adjacent to Soobin's.

"It's okay. It happens," Soobin politely smiled. The boy must have been a freshmen, based on the way he looked awkward and unsure about things.

Soobin finally saw Ryujin and Beomgyu in his third period, but he couldn't talk to them because they had arrived in the class after the teacher already started teaching. As soon as teacher dismissed the class, he saw Beomgyu walking away from the room as fast as possible, a clear sign of avoiding. 

"Really? He is just gonna walk away like that?" Soobin glanced at the back of Beomgyu and exclaimed with the hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Well, what you did last night was not cool, Soobin. You could've left us a text when you left," Ryujin held up her case.

"Yes, I could have and I am sorry that I didn't. But you know me. I love my room far too much to spend time somewhere else. And even if I did, I couldn't have strayed anywhere, and not before the first day of school. I don't understand why it's so serious," Soobin retorted. He didn't exactly feel like telling the truth yet, not when he was not sure of what the truth was.

"I know that, but last night was different. There could be potential murderer walking in this town,"

"Yes, did you keep that in mind when you and your partner-in-crime went _looking_ for the very body in the woods?"

"Why didn't you pick up our call?" Ryujin sidetracked.

"My phone was silent, jeez. Didn't you receive my text?" Soobin didn't send the text, but Ryujin didn't need to know that, _yet_. He convinced his conscience with the point that he would tell her eventually.

"It took you half an hour to write that? And you didn't even send one to Beomgyu. I had to call him to let him know," Ryujin ranted. Soobin just pursed his lips.

"No one was picking your home phone," she added.

"My brother had an emergency shift at the hospital. But he would have called you if I didn't come home,"

"Right," Ryujin sighed and softened her expression. "Sorry, we panicked,"

"Anything happened in the woods?"

"No, we just got scared. That's all,"

"Wow, you can feel scared?" Soobin joked. Ryujin glared.

"I am sorry too, for worrying you two," he said genially.

"No, just try to clear things with Beomgyu if you can. You have one more class with him after this, right?" she looked up to meet his eyes.

"Right. I will find him and try to talk to him," Soobin assured her.

Soobin sat in the class he shared with Beomgyu, waiting for him to show up and when he was late again, Soobin knew he did it deliberately. He sighed internally. He spent the entire class being alert of Beomgyu's movements, making sure the boy isn't preparing to run away. When the class ended, Soobin outran his friend and held him by the shoulder from the back preventing him from going any further. He had never been happier with the fact that Beomgyu had a smaller frame than him.

"How do you expect me to apologize if you keep running away like that, my friend?" Soobin turned Beomgyu around to face him. Beomgyu seemed to contemplate the words.

"Okay, fine. But we have a code," Beomgyu pouted.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot. What do you want me to get? Coffee, fries, or ice-cream?"

"I already had coffee in the morning. It's already mid-day. So, ice-cream,"

"Okay, let's go,"

"What about Ryujin?"

"We already made up. She forgot about the code too. So, I got to save my money,"

"Ah, she's too soft sometimes," Beomgyu exclaimed.

"No, you're just sadistic sometimes,"

"You sure you're here to apologize, dude?"

"Okay, I take it back,"

Soobin saw Beomgyu happily finishing the contents of his ice-cream cup, without even asking him for an explanation about the phone calls, like Beomgyu was just here for free food, which Soobin knew he was. Soobin cleared his throat and Beomgyu looked at him.

"You're not in mood for ice-cream? It's almost melted," Beomgyu pointed at the barely-touched cup Soobin was holding. 

"You can give it to me if you don't want," Beomgyu said, not getting any reply.

"You like melted ice-cream?"

"I like anything free,"

"Okay, whatever," Soobin pushed the cup toward the Beomgyu's side of the table.

"So, last night..." Soobin started.

"You were just being a careless jerk,"

"No,"

"What do you mean, _no_?" Beomgyu looked up from his food.

"I am not sure what happened, but I remember walking in the woods thinking I could catch you guys, then I don't know. I probably got lost, probably even came across the dead body. I remember some deer running over me,"

Soobin took a pause to see Beomgyu's face which held a mixture of confused and apprehended look across itself. "I think I got bitten,"

"What?!" Beomgyu's eyes widened. "By a deer?"

"No," Soobin gave an annoyed expression. "Something with a bigger set of jaws and sharper teeth,"

"Are you okay? Did you go to the hospital?" Beomgyu expressed his concerns.

"I would if there was a wound left to treat," Soobin sighed. 

"But you said you got bitten,"

"My memories are hazy. I am not sure if it was a dream or it happened in real. But I definitely remember the pain from it," Soobin pointed toward an area of his waist. "Here,"

Beomgyu rubbed his forehead trying to make sense of Soobin's words. "Is everything else alright with your body?"

"I think so. I just have a slight headache," He paused, conflicted about whether he should tell Beomgyu about how he had heard several conversation, way too clearly, from an impossible distance.

"There is something else. Tell me," Beomgyu broke him out of his thoughts.

"Well, I think I hear things I shouldn't able to hear, and smell things and see better. Like _implausibly better_ ," Soobin confessed.

Beomgyu narrowed his eyes and simply stared at his friend like he was expecting some kind of explanation, or maybe take back the entire thing if possible, but Soobin looked serious.

"I want to check," Beomgyu stated.

"What do you want to do?" Soobin spoke in a plain tone.

"I will go outside. I will say something. You text what you hear," Beomgyu rushed off.

When Beomgyu determined he was at good amount of distance, he halted and suddenly the awareness of what they are doing and what would happen if Soobin could prove his heightened hearing sank in. Soobin was his friend; there was nothing to fear about the guy but it would still be unnatural, even though he watched so many movies where people gets superpowers. He didn't know if he could accept the fact, but he was curious. So, he begun his experiment.

A text popped up.

 **bunny:** you called me stupid

_Fuck._

**bunny:** you cursed

 **bunny:** and called me stupid again

 **angel314:** alrighttell me what you see on my phone

Beomgyu moved from his position and came in a straight view to the ice-cream shop so that Soobin can see him through the window and held up his phone. He saw Soobin looking at him from a fine distance and ready to type on his phone.

 **bunny:** that's you with a blonde wig

 **bunny:** wait no you're really dressed as a girl

 **bunny:** are you Elsa?

Soobin saw Beomgyu running around the block and rushing into the store. Soobin just waited and watched Beomgyu's antics putting on a regaled expression. Beomgyu banged his hand on the table as soon as he arrived in his finish line. 

"Holy shit, dude. It's like a superhero origin story," Beomgyu shrieked.

"I wouldn't go that far," Soobin tried to minimalize his friend's excitement before he dropped the rest of the mystery. "There's also this man,"

"Obviously, every origin story needs one," 

Soobin narrowed his eyes at his friend who didn't look like he was taking this situation seriously.

"You know, to help the hero control his powers,"

"He dragged me into a cracked house in the middle of the woods instead of calling for help and," he snapped, making sure to emphasize every word. "those text saying I reached home safely, I didn't send them,"

"that man sent them?" Beomgyu looked serious now.

"Well, I am not sure he did. I didn't see it. But he had my phone,"

"What happened with the man?"

"Nothing. I woke up in the house and I ran away finding him asleep,"

"Wow, that's.." Beomgyu was in a loss for words. "I am glad you're safe now, Soobin."

"Thanks," Soobin smiled at the other. "I want to figure out what happened, and what's happening to me,"

"Okay, no problem. I will help you," Beomgyu responded immediately. 

"Does Ryujin know?" He asked after a few seconds.

"No, I haven't told her. I want to be sure first,"

"She wouldn't mind if you aren't,"

"Yeah, I know. But let's keep it between us. For now?"

"As you wish," Beomgyu conformed. 

Soobin and Beomgyu looked at their unattended ice-cream, melted by now, but they were not in the state to care anymore. Both of them were absorbed in their own race of thoughts. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The characters are randomly aged up or down. For characters in school, it goes:  
> 02~03 liners: Freshmen, 00~01 : Sophomore, 98~99 : Junior  
> If a character is somebody's parent or teacher, then they are automatically aged up. For others, I will probably explicitly mention how old they are in the chapter they will be introduced.


	3. What Maketh a Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By learning more about the stranger Soobin met at that fateful night, he finds out the source of his powers.

Soobin had shared any sort of details he could think of from that night, with Beomgyu the past few hours, until they both got very sleepy. Now that they were sitting in their first period, the effect of staying up was hitting them exponentially. Ryujin entered the classroom to find the two boys sitting back-to-back dozing in their seats in sync. She didn't bother to ask the reason and just assumed they were up playing games together like they do when the study pressure is light, specially heightened by the spurt feeling of brotherhood received through recent reconciliation.

"Oh, shoot, I left my book in the locker," Soobin exclaimed as he got up from his desk beside Ryujin. He got up and walked in front of the door absentmindedly, soon to be meet with a figure and all his senses perked up. Yeonjun was standing opposite to him blocking the way. Unlike his dark fit the previous day, he was wearing pink patterned shirt jacket, but looking equally as good.

"Hi," The word escaped Soobin's mouth unpromptly.

"Hey," Yeonjun looked up and paused to study Soobin's face. "Soobin from English class,"

"You remember my name," Soobin's lips extended into a smile. Yeonjun hummed and tried to step aside so Soobin can go through, but Soobin was already pursuing the same thing. So, they oscillated sideways between the door frame and the struggle went on until Yeonjun completely moved away outside. Soobin came out instantly and conveyed a thanks with his eyes and let Yeonjun go in, not moving his eyes from the pretty guy.

"I remember everyone's name who has ever lend me a pen, you know, without me even asking them," Yeonjun remarked with an alluring smile playing on his lips. Soobin hoped he wasn't reading too much into the act and kept his I-am-totally-not-swayed-at-the-moment smile up on his face as he saw Yeonjun going away to find himself a seat.

Soobin was still gaily when he took his seat after bringing his textbook and sneaked a glance at Yeonjun, who was sitting in the other side with his chin resting on his palm and drumming the fingers of his other hand on the desk. Opting to not stare further, he opened the book and pretended to read. Ryujin suddenly slammed her hand on his desk, closing the book in the process in order to get Soobin's attention.

"What was that?" She smirked. "I totally saw you blushing,"

"Who's blushing," Beomgyu blinked owlishly, as he tried to put away his sleepiness.

"I wasn't blushing," Soobin asserted.

"Who's he?" Ryujin directed her gaze at Yeonjun.

Beomgyu followed her line of sight and replied "Choi Yeonjun,"

Ryujin gave a questioning look at Beomgyu.

"What? You didn't heard of him? The mysterious handsome newcomer,"

Ryujin rolled her eyes.

"For a popular girl, you are falling behind in keeping tabs," Beomgyu commented.

"You're the one who's falling behind,"

"What did I miss?"

"Ask Soobin,"

"Don't mind her, Beomgyu," Soobin brushed her aside.

"I have never seen you looking at someone like that," Ryujin pointed as she leaned toward Soobin.

"Well, he's pretty," Beomgyu said as a matter of fact.

"And this is Soobin," Ryujin brought her palms up a few inches under Soobin's face in a gesture to showcase him. Beomgyu exhaled loudly in defeat.

The three of them stood outside the class afterwards and found Yeonjun talking to Jihoon and another popular guy who went by the name, as Beomgyu remembers, Wonjin.

"Hey, Ryujin," They heard Lia come in and hug Ryujin. "Hi guys," she also greeted Ryujin's friends.

"Where were you yesterday? I didn't see you even in lunch break," Ryujin started talking to Lia, reminding Soobin she was in a bunch of friend groups which didn't include him. Same went for Beomgyu. But both of them still spent the most time with him, so he couldn't complain.

"I am sorry, I was busy. Our music club teacher made us clean dust off the instruments whenever she saw us outside class," Lia groaned.

"But club activities don't start till a week later,"

"Like she cares. She's such a pain,"

Lia's eyes fell on the popular boys talking with Yeonjun.

"Wow, can someone tell me how he has been here one day and he is already hanging out with the popular clique,"

"Because he's hot," Beomgyu replied. "Beautiful people herd together,"

Soobin would very much liked to get out of the conversation.

Soobin and Beomgyu met up at the school gate as planned after all of their class ended. Ryujin was gonna be busy practicing for her lacrosse tryout by herself. So, the two boys believed it would be a good opportunity to meet up and discuss Soobin's condition.

"So, did you find anything?" Soobin chirped as they kept walking.

"You have internet in your home too, you know," Beomgyu remarked. Soobin rolled his eyes.

"I have found a lot of things actually. There are so many myths and lore and comic books. I didn't know which category specifically fit you," Beomgyu stated. "You didn't catch fire in the sun, so I have decided to kick vampire out of the list,"

"Yeah, I guess, it's a little vague. It might end up being nothing all that,"

"How would you explain the smells and hearing?"

Beomgyu and Soobin halted in their steps and looked at each other. They had no answer.

"We can at least cut aliens off our list," Soobin pulled the corner of his lip up.

"Aww man, that was my top theory,"

Soobin scoffed.

"Have you tried shooting webs out of your wrist?" Beomgyu joked.

"Shut up. You're making me regret telling you,"

"As if Ryujin wouldn't be making worse jokes,"

Soobin's eyes fell on a man sitting in a table under an umbrella outside a restaurant. It was the same man from the house. He was wearing black leather jacket and Soobin would say he blended in the crowd pretty well. He was busy talking to a waiter.

"Beomgyu, that's him. The one from the creepy house," Soobin turned to Beomgyu as he pulled them aside to hide around the corner of the nearest building.

"Whoa, he looks familiar. Oh, shit. He's looking," Beomgyu turned around. Soobin reflexively looked up and found the man staring at him which made him frozen in his position. Beomgyu tugged him and started walking in another direction through the blocks of building, hidden away from the man.

"So, that was Han Seungwoo. You remember, right?" Beomgyu made sure that the man in leather jacket wasn't following them.

"Remember what?"

"The fire incident 7 years ago? Most of his family died there,"

"That explains the burnt house," Soobin rendered. "Why would he take me to that place where his family died?"

"You're still a virgin, right?"

Soobin sneered at Beomgyu.

"Just saying, you could be a potential candidate for a sacrificial ritual to bring back the dead or summon the devil,"

"I am going home," Soobin declared and started walking toward his home while Beomgyu kept talking about how Seungwoo was a part of a devilish cult, and how the ritual on Soobin somehow failed and made him a ghoul and now he needed to eat people to maintain his strength and beauty, basically the plot of Jennifer's Body the rest of their way.

Soobin finally laid down on his bed after finishing the few homework he had and some other household activities. It was still evening but he wasn't feeling like eating dinner and his brother was away from home for his work, and so no one could force him on consuming the meal. It took him several toss and turns to finally relax and fall asleep with all those uncertainty hovering over his head. He didn't know if he was making a big deal out of nothing, but he knew he hadn't lost his enhanced hearing ability yet since he could listen to a husband and wife arguing from, what he assumed, half a kilometer away because that's where the couple who were in the brink of their divorce lived. Soobin hoped the couple could come to a conclusions about whether they should part ways or not soon because he still hasn't dropped out of school and he needed sleep to attend classes everyday. He also hoped he doesn't have to see Han Seungwoo again. Slowly exhaustion took over him and he drifted into sleep.

Soobin saw the dream again, he feared it might become recurring, that had the upper half of a female dead body, the hysterically running deer, a pair of red eyes and the excruciating pain spreading throughout his body like the cells in his body were at war against itself. He felt his heart speeding up as a response to the feeling from realness of the scenes, like he was living through those series of moments again. He woke up to the missing sensation of warmth and softness of his mattress, instead he felt bristly material on his back, which turned out to be a weave of leaves, twigs and tree barks. However, everything appeared like he was viewing them through a red filtered glass.

Soobin was suddenly aware of the fact his upper body was bare as he lifted his neck from the laying position. He doesn't remember taking off his shirt, but that wasn't the most important thing right now, because right now, he saw Seungwoo to his side. He was crouching behind the fallen tree log towering over Soobin's head. Soobin looked at Seungwoo with bewilderment. The elder seemed to take notice of the fact and brought his finger over his lips, gesturing Soobin to stay quiet.

"Keep alert," Seungwoo whispered.

Soobin complied to the order. Even though he didn't know what to anticipate, he could still detect that he was in the middle of a perilous situation and the man by his side was trying to help him. As he waited for whatever it is going to happen that required Soobin to be silent and vigilant, he looked down at his hand to find his nails replaced by claws. _Claws._ He suddenly felt hypersensitive within his body. There was something different inside his mouth, like something hard and sharp was stuck to his jaw. He touched his face to discover facial hair on the side of his face.

An anxiety started crippling up around Soobin's chest, but before it could consume him, his ear picked up footsteps and all his senses got diverted to the sound. He could not dare to get up and take a look at the person who was nearing them with every passing moment. He looked at Seungwoo, who nodded as if he wanted to give some sort of assurance. A few seconds passed before a gunshot blared and Soobin's eyes widened. He was getting chased by people with weapons. But what are the chances the people weren't after Seungwoo?

"Well, I don't think the kid went that way," Soobin heard someone whispering far away as if to answer his question and confirmed he indeed was being searched for.

The footsteps seemed to retreat a few step after some moments have passed and Soobin puffed out air from the breath he was holding. He tried to spin around and lay on his chest as soundlessly he can. He could see the middle aged man who was striding with a rifle out in the territory beyond Soobin's frail fort of a log.

"Okay, I am going to distract and lead them deeper. You should get ready to run the other way," Seungwoo whispered wrapping his black leather jacket over Soobin.

Soobin didn't how to respond to this. A man he didn't know, and possibly feared, was potentially trying to save him from getting shot and helping him get out of here alive. It's not like he had much choices here and he would rather trust Seungwoo than people who wanted to stuff bullets in his body. So, he just nodded at the elder and held onto the jacket he received.

Seungwoo's eyes glinted bluish-purple. Soobin saw him jerking his hand and a set of claws emerged from his fingers before he lightly moved away from Soobin still hidden behind the log, and then behind the trunk of a tree and farther away. He heard the other deliberately making noise in the distant to occupy the attention of the man presumably holding a gun not far away from Soobin. The plan worked as the man rushed back leaving Soobin and he took it as his cue to run. He didn't know how he could be navigating through the forest now that he didn't have his phone to look a map, but he believed he picked up a familiar scent just now and intuitively found himself following the scent.

**_Billie Eilish - idontwannabeyouanymore_ **

Somehow Soobin had managed to run into a clearing. He was never more relieved to see people and even a patrolling officer in his sight. He looked at his surroundings and realized he was at a park. Suddenly he was reminded of the fact that he had weird facial hair and claws on him. He rushed into a building whose sign read 'Men's restroom' trying to be as obscure as possible and entered a stall seeing people inside. He waited for the whole compartment to be empty and he locked the door from inside after coming out from the stall.

When Soobin looked at the mirror after his vision turned less and less redder, he couldn't accept the reflection to be his. What he felt earlier inside his mouth was his enlarged canine teeth on each side that inflicted him with discomfort when he attempted in closing his mouth. His ears had grown in size and protruding way outward. There were facial hair extending from his ears to the side of the face. His face look deformed somehow. His face didn't look human. Not with those eyes of his which glinted yellow around the slit pupils. _He had become a_ _monster_.

The revealed skin from the unbuttoned leather jacket Soobin was wearing showed lines of hair, no, _fur_ along the middle of his torso _._ He stroked through the furs and rough skin around it. The muscles on his abdomen had hardened too.

Soobin jolted to the sound of a thump on the door, to which his racing heart blocked any chance of opening for rational thoughts, leaving his body trembling and stumped in his position.

"Hey, who locked the damn door?" He heard a male shout. There was a sense of familiarity in the voice.

"Beomgyu?" Soobin instinctively called out. There was a silence on the other end.

"Soobin?" Beomgyu responded with a hint of uncertainty after a short time. "Yes, it's me, Beomgyu,"

Soobin pulled the sliding bolt to an side to unlock the door, and stood back waiting for the person behind the casing to push through and come in. He didn't know why he couldn't face his friend and instead chose to keep his eyes on the floor. He looked at the pair of shoes of the boy who just entered and didn't take any more steps closer to Soobin. He shouldn't have opened the door. It didn't matter who was behind it.

"Holy.." Beomgyu exclaimed and saw Soobin running and locking himself into a stall. The sound of the stall door slamming echoed throughout the room.

He sighed and closed the main door. "I am sorry,"

"I was just surprised. Soobin, please come out," He pled.

"You should go. You don't need to be here," Soobin spoke with somberness in his voice.

"Thanks for your concern, man. But I am not going anywhere,"

Soobin stood with his back pressed again the door and didn't say anything. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. He heard shuffling outside his stall and then it was silent again.

"So, we can start anytime you're ready," Beomgyu said diplomatically.

"Ready for what?" Soobin wearily replied.

"To talk,"

"That's going to solve this?" Soobin voiced his skepticism.

"Sometimes the solution, my friend, is just that simple," Beomgyu assured.

"Okay,"

"So, tell me what happened,"

"Well, I went to sleep and woke up in the woods, like _this_. With _claws_ in _my fingers_ and _fur_ on my _chest_ ,"

"So, you transformed," Beomgyu frankly phrased the information.

"Yes," _into a hideous creature_. Soobin already knew that part.

"Okay, you have to know it's not permanent. You just need to shift back," Beomgyu sounded pragmatic. Soobin had panicked so much the last hour that his brain didn't have a chance to pop this question.

"How do I do that?" Soobin didn't sound senile anymore.

"Try to calm down and steady your pulses,"

For the first time this night, his head wasn't clouded with uneasiness. He felt like he could do it. He took deep breaths. The worst might already be over. His friend was just outside waiting for him, ready to give any support he needs. If he could relax, if he could go back to being human, Beomgyu will be there and he will give the missing pieces of information and then they can figure out the next course of action together. _Together._

"I can play soothing music from my phone if you want. What do you like, bird singing or rain sounds?" Beomgyu suggested after two or three minutes had passed.

"There will be no need," Soobin unlatched the door to his stall and saw his friend swinging his legs sitting on the high bathroom countertop adjacent to the sinks.

"Welcome back," Beomgyu got down from the fixture and offered a grin at the taller who looked the same as the Soobin he knew from all these years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seungwoo is 23


	4. Brethren by Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin believes avoiding Seungwoo is the best course of action in his new life as werewolf.

"Okay, so it's called lycanthropy," Beomgyu conferred, seated on the rotating chair placed at Soobin's study table with his legs crossed and arms folded over his chest, trying his best to give off a smart vibe. Soobin sat on his bed while wiping his wet hair with a piece of towel and pulled his eyebrows together into a frown to the information.

"You have been cursed, Soobin. It starts with a bite, then on every full moon," Beomgyu explained. "You go ah-woo,"

Soobin looked at his friend with a jaded expression who had talked comically and added unnecessary sound effects . "So, basically, I am a werewolf?" Soobin deadpanned.

"Yeah," Beomgyu smiled enthusiastically.

"Then, Seungwoo must be a werewolf too," Soobin paused and looked like he was thinking over something. "He is the one who bit me,"

"Huh?" Beomgyu narrowed his eyes.

"He was there tonight. With me. In the woods. He saved me from those people,"

"People?"

"With guns," Soobin let out a huff and laughed bitterly. "I mean, I wouldn't blame them if they got scared by me,"

"You mean, hunters?"

"They were hunters?" Soobin looked taken aback.

"Trust me, normal people wouldn't chase any unusual looking human with guns into the woods. My knowledge from everything supernatural genre I watched says they were hunters,"

"So he saved me from hunters," Soobin wasn't sure if he was stating or asking.

"Well, probably. I mean, it makes sense. You're part of his pack,"

 _Pack._ The word sounded so eccentric to Soobin, but this was simply just how it has to be phrased. He knew he have to start getting accustomed to the way things were going to be put out in this world he was dragged in. It was going to become the new normal.

The two of them fell silent. They had figured out the answers to the questions they were looking for the past day. Even with all of the facts laid out in the open, they didn't find whatever they were looking for. But then again, what were they looking for? It's not like they could change anything. Seungwoo had already turned Soobin into a werewolf. The elder might have saved his life tonight, but his life was on the line because of him in the first place. What does Seungwoo want from him? Why did he turn Soobin into a werewolf out of all people? Was it just a co-incidence? Was it accidental? Could Soobin accidentally hurt people too? Was the hunters on his back because he had hurt people tonight? What happens if his brother finds out that he was not a human anymore? What if everyone find out? _Brilliant._ Soobin was handed with more question just when he thought he was done with them.

"I don't know, Soobin." Beomgyu sighed, sounding hesitant. He stared at the black leather jacket hanging on a peg on the wall. "That guy feels shady,"

"Why do you say that?"

"I overheard my brother on the phone today. The fiber analysis came back from the lab. They found animal hairs on the body from the woods. It belonged to a wolf,"

Soobin was having a hard time registering all the possible implications that information set forth. The spiral of questions that had risen earlier threw itself off into a recursion. He was finding it hard to breath amidst the wreckage his brain was making upon itself while scavenging for any missing pieces in the picture.

"Soobin," Beomgyu called out softly, concern painted on his face. It seemed to distract him just enough to take back control and ground his thoughts.

"I am okay," Soobin eventually replied.

"Soobin, don't worry," Beomgyu assured. "Come on, we can get through this together. We don't really need Seungwoo,"

Soobin looked up and met the other's gaze.

"If I have to, I will chain you up myself on full moon nights and feed you live mice," Beomgyu joked trying to lighten the mood. Soobin scoffed.

"Full moon is just one day of the month. And rest of the time, you just have to make sure you don't get too angry," Beomgyu advised.

Soobin could do that. "I rarely get angry,"

"or worried,"

Soobin looked confused.

"Well, both of them speeds up your heart. The heart rate is the trigger," Beomgyu explained.

"That's the plan?" Soobin sounded dubious.

"For now," Beomgyu stated. "You have school tomorrow,"

Soobin fell on his back and exhaled deeply. Beomgyu moved from the chair to sit beside him on the bed with a earnest look on his face.

"You want me to stay the night?" Beomgyu asked.

"Uh, no. Go home. I can take care of myself," Soobin immediately replied.

"You sure?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, call or text or, send a smoke signal if you need my help," Beomgyu approached the bedroom door before turning back when Soobin called him to convey a thank you.

When Soobin reached the school gate, he didn't feel anything different about himself, except for the dam that he has placed over his thoughts and he hoped for it to hold until he was out of here. If the time he was playing video games was not considered, then he didn't exactly live a spontaneous life. There was nothing that really shook him enough to feel something extreme, well maybe he will be a little vigilant for math class but anything else shouldn't trigger him to shift. He could go through this. He found Yeonjun walking through the gate in front of him and only when the other disappeared could Soobin realize how his heart had sped up a little. Okay, maybe he will be careful around Yeonjun too, until he has figured out his werewolf business. But only until then.

"I swear Taehyun hates me," Beomgyu came in with a scowl on his face and sat beside Soobin during lunch. He acted so casual and starting talking about his first world problems, that Soobin pushed the question about what are they going to do about telling Ryujin about him becoming a werewolf back in his mind. Soobin thought to himself that he could have a casual lunch just like he did yesterday and everyday before that, without necessarily bringing up things about the creature that came out of a folklore.

"You don't have to swear, Beomgyu. We believe you," Ryujin said from where she was seated at the opposite of Soobin, a smile teasing on her lips.

"Doesn't he hate like more than half of the school?" Soobin scoffed.

"Yeah. Why? Jealous you can't top his record?" Ryujin turned against him now instead of Beomgyu.

"Soobin? Hmm, never heard of a Soobin," Soobin's hearing picked up a conversation. It seemed like Jihoon's voice.

"Well, he is the guy sitting over-" This one was Yeonjun's.

"Honey, you should meet people before you settle your interest," A female voice spoke, most likely belonging to Yeri. Soobin tilted his head as he stared at a table with the corner of his eyes and found Yeonjun sitting with Yeri, Jihoon and a few of their friends. He wouldn't be bothered by the said group calling him a nobody. He wasn't the only one who was a nobody in their eyes. But they were convincing Yeonjun to get introduced to other people and stop Yeonjun from getting to know Soobin. As much as he was grateful for the fact Yeonjun was thinking about him, he was more focused on the antagonizing feeling.

"Oh, I can not wait for the party. Why is the weekend so far away?" A friend of Yeri's whined.

"Soobin?" Beomgyu called out. Soobin pulled out his attention from the people that surrounded Yeonjun and let rationality sink in. He is not about to lose his record of rarely feeling anger.

"So, you going to the vet today?" Ryujin asked plainly.

"Yeah," Soobin replied.

"You're going to the part-time job?" Beomgyu stopped eating, sitting straight and looked at Soobin.

"That's the only reason I go to the vet for," Soobin reminded him.

"Is Dr.Chan going to be there your whole shift?"

"Yeah. He is always there during afternoon shifts."

"You are not going to be there at night?"

"Uh-uh. Someone else's covering that shift,"

"Okay, good," Beomgyu looked relieved.

"Since when are you so interested in Soobin's job?" Ryujin eyed him.

"Well, thought I had to start caring sometime," Beomgyu dismissed the question.

As Soobin had passed a few meters having gotten out the school after Beomgyu bade him goodbye and told him to stay careful, he thought he caught a glimpse of the person reputed for showing up wearing black leather jackets in every interaction he had with that person. He looked over the place again and there was Seungwoo standing with a stern expression on his face. God, he looked scary even without being in the wolf form. Okay, at least, he didn't get caught by the hunters last night. 

_We need to talk, Soobin._ Soobin heard the other male speak as his heightened hearing kicked into action. Although Soobin knew he would have to talk to Seungwoo eventually, he wasn't ready to do that yet. He turned around quickly and paced back to school without looking back, trying to block out every noise he can.

_**PORTS - I'd Let You Win** _

The hallway was almost stranded with just a few people either attending to their lockers or having a last conversation before they leave. This was a given, since it was the first week of school. There was no real progress in classes, so students didn't have to visit the teachers in their office hours. Club activities or sports practice didn't start this week either. He just walked around, peeping through the empty classroom occasionally. He saw a boy standing inside one of the rooms. He looked out the window leaning on the wall. The boy probably felt Soobin's eyes outside the door and he turned to face him.

"You're not going home?" Soobin was surprised to see Yeonjun.

"I was just waiting my mom's car," Yeonjun displayed that same smile he was holding the first day Soobin saw him, when Yeonjun introduced himself.

"You don't drive?"

"I do. It's taken today,"

"By your mom," Soobin finished the sentence and laughed at himself for being slow in understanding. "Right. Sorry,"

"What about you?" Yeonjun beamed.

"Me? I am gonna work part-time,"

"Here?" Yeonjun raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, no-no. It's a little farther from here. Just that I have some time before I leave. So I was just dawdling around," Soobin chuckled sheepishly.

Yeonjun just nodded and silently pronounced an 'oh'.

"So, how you like the place?" Soobin entered the classroom and hoped to extend the conversation.

"It's peaceful,"

"Because it's a small town?" Soobin grinned.

"Well, there's less people than the last place I lived, so yes," Yeonjun admitted.

"And everything else?"

"Well, it's not upto me," Yeonjun looked resigned.

"What do you mean?" Soobin inquired.

"My parents actually move around a lot. They don't really consult me before going to the next place,"

"That must feel bad,"

"I join a school, introduce myself, memorize the hallways and then it's time to say goodbye," Yeonjun smiled bitterly.

A silence fell after the disclosure. Yeonjun glanced at Soobin to find him folding his neck as he looked downwards and tried to hide a grin shyly.

"What?"

"Uh-nothing. Just- I can't imagine myself saying goodbye to you," Soobin confessed. Yeonjun stared at him, taken aback.

"You don't even know me," Yeonjun stated.

"If you give me a chance, I want to," They held eye-contact until Yeonjun went to look out the window in order to check whether the horn that came in a second ago belonged to his mom's car.

"I have to go. My ride's here," Yeonjun smiled at the taller. He stopped in front of Soobin in between walking toward the door. "It would be nice to know you too,"

A smile crept up onto Soobin's face as he let those words sink into himself and saw Yeonjun leaving immediately after, with a similar expression as his. If anyone asked Soobin, he would say the conversation was a success and Yeri and all the other people she was planning to introduce to Yeonjun can suck on that. 

Soobin saw out Dr.Chan a little after seven when Soobin's shift was almost coming to an end. The only thing left for him to do was to discard the trash as instructed by the guy who was taking over the night shift. He collected the contents of all the bins throughout the building into a single plastic bag and put it by the back door. He returned to the place after getting his hoodie out from the locker and thought about how nothing sort of unusual happened in the last few hours, if he didn't count the one where cats in the vet, even the friendliest ones, hissing at him whenever he tried to approach them. All in one, there was no sign of Seungwoo and Soobin was enjoying his evening looking like a normal teenager who is just working part time and earning a little cash. He picked up the big trash bag and walked outside across the parking lot.

" _Soobin_ ," 

A chill ran down Soobin's spine and he stopped dead in his place unable to move. His senses stayed at their peak, ready to catch anything that could come his way. When enough time passed and nothing happened, he got better of his paranoia and turned around. There was no one in his circumference. There was no Seungwoo.

"Why don't you show yourself?" Soobin said carefully.

"I know I would freak you out if I actually showed up at your place. So, I thought we could use a bit of distance. It shouldn't be inconvenient for you. I mean, _you can hear every word I say,_ "

Soobin flinched as Seungwoo emphasized on the last couple of words with a cocky tone to his voice. 

"You've been following me. What is it you want?" Soobin said restrainedly. 

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay. I had to warn you about those hunters. The kind that's been hunting us for centuries," Seungwoo changed to a ruminative tone.

"Us? Just say werewolves," Soobin spat.

"I know the change is a lot to take. But is it really _so bad_ , Soobin? That you can see _better_ , hear more _clearly_ , move _faster_ than any human could ever hope. Once you learn to control your powers, you will understand that the bite was a gift,"

Yes, he spent an entire day thinking it was a gift with no clue that he traded it for his humanity.

"I didn't want it," Soobin snapped. 

"You will," 

Soobin could visualize the smirk Seungwoo must have had on his face and his hand impulsively clenched into a fist. He closed his eyes and bit his lips, trying to keep his calm.

"I understand that you're not ready for a proper conversation yet. So, I will wait for you to _come to_ _me_. Because you and me, Soobin, we are brothers now. And I know you will need me,"

It was quite for a minute, followed by a shuffling sound in the direction of distant grove of trees. Seungwoo must have been standing there. Soobin saw a slight wave of movement in that area and then everything went back to being still. Seungwoo has listed him a bunch of power that he now owned, and yet the helpless feeling that had washed over him just seemed to get stronger with every minute he passed standing in the silent parking lot behind the vet all alone.


	5. Nocturnal Creatures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin fears his animal instincts may end up hurting the innocent people around him.

_**MISSIO - Bottom of The Deep Blue Sea** _

Yeonjun walked out of the supermarket with a pair of plastic bags stuffed with some groceries. The parking lot he was walking on was fairly empty with some smokers standing in one corner, few of them leaning on their bikes, and loudly gossiping among themselves. He made sure to avoid any sort of eye contact with those people and headed straight to his SUV as quickly as possible.

The number of cars and pedestals kept decreasing with each turn Yeonjun took and the road he was driving on now was totally empty. While it was still hot during the day, the temperature dropped vastly when it approached midnight. He pulled out his sight from the road briefly to adjust the cooler on his dashboard. He sensed something running out ahead with the corner of his eyes and hastily directed all of his strength into his leg pressing the brake pedal. As Yeonjun recovered from the motion of his body jerking forward slightly at his car coming to a stop, he scanned the scene in front of him. There was no sign of anything. He pushed the door handle out and peeked around. He must have seen it wrong before, because the road appeared just as empty as when he commenced driving on its concrete.

A figure appeared on his right as Yeonjun turned to get into his car seat and his heart jumped in his chest. He didn't know how a human could possibly come walking and stand next to him in such a short moment.

"Soobin," Yeonjun stared at the person with his eyes widened.

"Hey," Soobin casually said.

"Uh, how- what are you doing here?" Yeonjun was still trying to get a grasp of the situation.

"I was just walking to my house. I saw you and thought I should say hi,"

"Okay, hey then." Yeonjun feigned a friendly grin and tried to conceal his shakiness. "Uh, it's so late. I will have to go. But it was nice running into you. See you in school,"

"Wait," Soobin put his hand on the edge of the door to prevent it from opening. "That time when I said I wanted to get to know you. I meant it. I want us to get closer," He spoke sincerely and saw Yeonjun's mouth slacking to the words.

"I am sorry. You probably don't feel the same," Soobin had his lips set in a grim line.

"No, it's just- it felt like a little sudden is all," Yeonjun explained.

"So, you don't hate me?"

"Of course not," Yeonjun smiled. His nervousness dissolved away as his attention was diverted into assuring the other guy.

"But you hate the idea of us getting closer?" Soobin sounded sullen.

"No. I just think it's a little soon for that. But I don't hate it,"

Soobin slowly crowded Yeonjun as the shorter spoke and placed his other hand on the car near Yeonjun's hip. Yeonjun eyed at the action. When he looked up to meet the other's gaze, Soobin's expression had changed. His eyes gleamed like he was repressing a passion behind them.

"Well, then will you hate it if I.." Soobin leaned forward and whispered in Yeonjun's ears. "..do this?" As Yeonjun stood there looking down, stunned and pinned under Soobin, he felt the other brushing over his cheek with his chin petitely.

"Soobin, stop," Yeonjun managed to bring his arms over Soobin's chest as a resistance. Soobin ignored the protest and proceeded to kiss the area under Yeonjun's chin. "Soobin, I need to go," Yeonjun cringed to the action. He firmed his hand onto the other's chest, but before he could push him away, Soobin gripped his wrist. Yeonjun looked up and found Soobin smiling shamelessly.

"Soobin, let go," Yeonjun pulled his arm away with all his might and didn't stall a second in locking the car after he got into his seat. He tried to catch his breath and looked outside the window to find a disgruntled Soobin staring into nothing. He tore his eyes away from the taller in fright and started his SUV. He must have gone about a half a kilometer when he saw Soobin, through his rear glass, walking behind slowly. He pressed on the accelerator as a growl echoed nearby. Something large surmounted the roof of his car with a loud bang. He lost control of the vehicle as it spun around. He halted the car right before it could crash onto a streetlight. The door to his side was ripped away in the next moment and a claw flashed before Yeonjun's eyes. He screamed and jumped only focusing on getting out. He started sprinting and didn't look back. A set of fingers wrapped around his ankle from his rear and tugged forcefully. He fell on his chest and found himself getting dragged back toward his car.

"No, please, no." Yeonjun cried.

Yeonjun felt the grip loosening on his leg. He stood up in a flash and tried to run toward an opening. He felt himself getting lifted and tossed onto the bumper of the car. His back lit up with pain. He groaned as he eventually landed on the ground. He watched a pair of shoes approaching him and let his sight drift over the person responsible for the affliction that was propagating from his upper body. Yeonjun never thought he would see anything like this in real life. The male had a humanoid appearance with yellow orbs for eyes, and his face resembled almost a deformed version of Soobin. He drew his palms up backward and Yeonjun got a proper look on the claws this time. In the between the next moments, those claws kept slashing over his body with no sign of stopping. Only the empty road and a dented SUV remained witness to the shriek and blood coming out of Yeonjun.

"And this happened when you were returning home from the vet?" Beomgyu raised an eyebrow.

"No, I returned home fine. I wasn't feeling well after that whole talk with Seungwoo. I just wanted to sleep, " Soobin paused and glanced away. "So, I took my brother's sleeping pills," He mumbled.

"This is just the fifth time you've done it." Beomgyu sighed.

"I didn't realize you were keeping count. But this is the last time. I promise,"

Beomgyu looked over to Soobin who held a sincere look on his face.

"So, what did Yeonjun do after he saw your were-wolf form?" Beomgyu moved on from the pill issue.

"Well, there's so many disgusting details, you know, a big reason why I think all of this is a dream,"

"Then, why are you so worked up over a dream and destroying my peace so early in the morning?"

"Cause it was so vivid," Soobin pouted and gave Beomgyu an imploring look. "I thought you said you'd help me,"

"I know I did. But that was just after break ended and I forgot how much of a procrastinator I was and how I used to stay up late finishing school work,"

Soobin had showed up in his house and was currently standing near the doorway while Beomgyu was hurriedly dressing up after missing several snoozes of his morning alarm. When he had woken up from sleep, he knew he wouldn't have time to properly finish his breakfast and so, he was planning to at least save a few buck by bringing homemade coffee to drink at school. But due to his friend demanding attention by making him listen to a story of an event that might not even have taken place in reality, he was being deprived of his day-starter arrangements. Even so, when Beomgyu looked at his friend who simply looked dejected and was sighing loudly, it made feel him a little guilty about not keeping his word.

"Okay, so if we're skipping details, what's becomes our gist?" Beomgyu tried to sound energized as he paused packing his school bag to properly listen to Soobin.

"I might have hurt him," Soobin tried to sugarcoat as much as he could.

"Hurt him how?"

"There was blood involved,"

"And where did this happen?"

"You know that big store near the park?"

"Yeah?" Beomgyu pursed his lips and cocked his head as if he was contemplating something. He glanced at his wrist watch and then shoved a notebook into his bag. "I think we will still have some time if we take a detour to school. Let's check out the area ourselves,"

Soobin agreed and the two boys walked out on the corridor of Choi household's first floor to find a dazed Seungcheol walking toward the bathroom with disheveled hair. It was strange seeing the guy in t-shirt and shorts, since Soobin can mostly remember seeing him in his uniform. Seungcheol ran his hands through his hair and blinked a few times to open his eyes properly.

"Good morning, big brother," Soobin offered a polite smile.

"Soobin?" Seungcheol sounded hoarse. He observed the two. "Oh, you're leaving for school," He continued in his walk. "Have fun,"

"Wow, you two don't even share good mornings," Soobin said once he and Beomgyu were outside. Beomgyu feigned disinterest at the comment and avoided eye-contact with him.

Soobin and Beomgyu were standing in the parking lot of the supermarket and they didn't find anything unusual. They didn't find anything out of the ordinary while walking on the way either. Guess, it was really just one of those strange unexplainable dream Soobin must have had. Beomgyu looked around one last time and his eyes caught a good five or six people strolling around in the distant. Upon closer look, majority of them were carrying a camera and one of them was even holding a microphone. Realization hit Beomgyu; _they had to be reporters_. He nudged Soobin to look at the direction of the reporters.

The first thing Soobin and Beomgyu observed as they neared the area were police tapes. They looked ahead to find a SUV with a dented roof parked obliquely in the middle of the road. It seemed like the driver side door was detached from the car. Beomgyu spotted the missing piece of metal a little further away under the trees that sidelined the road. Forensic officers were swarming behind the car, collecting samples and taking pictures. There were a line of dried blood smeared on different places of the car, and even on the concrete near the back. Beomgyu changed position and even tip-toed behind the officers posted near the tape to get a better view of whatever that was keeping the reporters on their heels and police on extreme vigilance. They saw ambulance arriving from the other end of the road. Ambulance technicians opened the door to the ambulance cabin, but didn't get out.

"Okay, there really is a crime scene here," Beomgyu commented. He didn't look at his friend who was breathing heavily and squirming in his position. The ambulance technicians still didn't move from inside the cabin, and Beomgyu couldn't figure out why. The forensic officers were no longer examining the back of the car. Why weren't they lifting the victim into the ambulance? He deduces, _the victim was missing_. He observed some officers scattered in the grove of trees on both sides of the road. Of course, they were searching for the body.

It seems everyone had caught upto that fact because the murmuring got louder and people were pushing each other to get a better view, and it didn't help that more reporters and onlookers have gathered by the time. Beomgyu withdrew himself from the commotion and searched for his friend in the crowd. He found Soobin standing with a remorseful look at the back. He walked toward his friend.

"I did that," Soobin fretted.

"Soobin, you don't know that yet. Yes, the blood looks bad, but they didn't find anyone," Beomgyu tried to assure him.

"I have to find Yeonjun," Soobin declared. He turned on his heels immediately and started sprinting, leaving a baffled Beomgyu behind.

Soobin took a break from running only when he reached the school parking lot. He didn't have enough focus in himself to brood on the fact that people witnessed him running with preposterous speed. He took a deep breath and entered the building with a slower pace this time. He didn't intend to startle people more than he did on the way. He scanned through the faces of the students on the hallway, constantly changing direction and moving through crowd. Frustration that was searing on his gut started climbing on different parts of his torso, slowly pervading his senses. Soon, he couldn't move his body parts anymore because he was too busy stopping himself from shaking. He leaned his head on a locker and held onto its side for support as he felt himself losing control of his impulse. When the metal started creaking due to getting deformed with the amount of force he was channeling on it, that's when he came back to senses.

Soobin knew he had drawn attention from surrounding students and so he quickly moved away from the wreckage that he was responsible for creating. As he walked further away from the scene disoriented, he ended up bumping on someone on his back. He turned around to see a rosy Yeonjun beaming at him even though all his books and notebooks had fallen on the floor due to Soobin crashing onto him. Soobin let out an exhale.

"You scared the hell out of me," Yeonjun proclaimed even though he didn't quite look like he was anything more than a little startled and even then he had moved on from that feeling because he was grinning at Soobin right now. He got down to pick up his belongings. Soobin crouched down with him letting a smile swaddle his face.

"You're okay?" Soobin asked rhetorically.

"Once my heart starts beating again, yeah," Yeonjun replied playfully. He discovered Soobin staring ardently at him. "What?"

"Nothing. I'm just happy to see you,"

Yeonjun pursed his lips to hide his grin and spoke coolly. "See you in class," 

Soobin watched Yeonjun walk away and his elevated pulse started to slow down. He came across the locker he damaged earlier to find their class representative Taehyun standing in front of it with a incredulous look on his face. Wow, the locker had to belong to Taehyun out of all people.

Beomgyu started contemplating whether he should head for school too after he watched Soobin running away and disappearing from his sight. He knew if he stayed any longer he would be late for class since, unlike his friend, he cannot run with a superhuman speed. However, he wanted to know who the victim was. Now, there was no possibility that even if he stayed a little longer, the police will have found the body. When Beomgyu was wasting his time nevertheless, trying to make up his mind about being late for school, he heard the crowd grasp all together. He turned around to see the ambulance technician has already lowered the stretcher trolley and stationed it on the area enveloped by the trees. When the technicians lifted the body into the stretcher, could everyone beyond the taped line get a proper look at the man. His clothes looked shredded and there were scratch marks all over his body including a big laceration on his cheek. 

As the stretcher was brought in the base of the ambulance, the man suddenly jolted in his position and shrieked before becoming unconscious again, earning himself another wave of alarming reaction out of the reporters and onlookers like Beomgyu. It turns out that the victim really wasn't Yeonjun from Soobin's suspicion, nor was anyone killed. That was somewhat the bright side of it. However, there was an badly injured man in the scene and it was hard to digest Soobin could be responsible for such kind of act. Beomgyu could only feel his confidence of being able to help his friend slowly weakening as he stood there watching the ambulance drive away, the thought of not being tardy already forgotten.

Beomgyu had already missed the first twenty minutes of the math class by the time he reached school. He opened the door and ended up interrupting the class. 

"It's still the first week and you've gone back to your old habit, Choi?" Kibum remarked.

"Sorry, Mr.Kim," 

Beomgyu sat behind Soobin who first looked concerned and then when he didn't find any indignance on Beomgyu's face, he changed to being full of anticipation to share their parts of information. Soobin angled his head a little to the back and whispered, "It wasn't Yeonjun," The contentment was evident in his voice.

"I know," Beomgyu said plainly, keeping his voice low like Soobin.

"That's good, right?"

"Yes," Beomgyu took a deep breath before saying the rest. "But you should know, the police found the body of the car owner,"

"What?" Soobin exclaimed a little louder for it to be considered as a whisper. Beomgyu looked at their teacher and it seemed like he had noticed them not paying attention.

"I think you and Beomgyu could benefit from a little distance, yes?" Kibum glanced at miffed Soobin and pointed him toward another seat.

"Don't worry. He wasn't dead when I left the scene," Beomgyu whispered while Soobin collected his things from the table.

"Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much," He mocked as Soobin stood up his seat and moved toward the one he was told to sit.

"We can't really say you attacked the man. You know, dreams aren't memories," Beomgyu explained to Soobin when they met at lunch like they had planned after first class ended.

"Then, it wasn't a dream," Soobin persisted as he sat down with his food. "Something happened last night, and I can't remember what,"

Beomgyu sighed. He was still sleepy and low on energy. He wanted to save his brainpower for the rest of his classes rather than formulating ideas, not that he was going anywhere with thinking about the matter anyway.

"I guess I should talk to Seungwoo," Soobin said grimly.

"What makes you think he even has all the answer?"

"For one, he is capable of controlling his shift. He saved me that night when I was running around in the middle of the woods with hunters on my back. Second, do you know any other were-wolf in this town? He is the best chance we got,"

"That guy just scares me. I thought you were scared of him too,"

Soobin and Beomgyu stopped their conversation and sat up straight as they saw Ryujin was approaching their lunch table, trailing behind her was Lia and Xiaojun.

"What were you guys talking about so seriously?" Ryujin chuckled and sat beside Soobin, with Lia on her side. Opposite to them, Beomgyu looked to his side to find Xiaojun offering him a polite smile as he sat down beside him. Xiaojun seemed to spot someone in the crowd and beaconed him. Renjun walked toward them with his lunch tray and took a seat beside Xiaojun.

"Just homework," Beomgyu lied and busied himself on his phone.

"So, did you hear they found a man severely injured with scratch marks _all over on his body_?" Lia spoke animatedly. Soobin stiffened upon hearing the sentence.

"Some of us are eating, Lia," Xiaojun commented, looking irked.

"Wow, another bloody incident. What's happening in our town lately?" Renjun exclaimed. 

"Could be an animal attack," Ryujin immediately responded and feigned a smile as she went back to eating.

"Do you know whose was it?" Renjun asked curiously.

"Yeah, I think it's written here," Beomgyu held up his phone. Soobin raised an eye-brow at the action.

"The sheriff department won't speculate on the details of the incident, but confirmed the victim, _Lim Yeongcheol_ , did survive the attack. Lim was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition," Beomgyu read the article aloud. Soobin took the phone out of Beomgyu's grasp and looked at the photo of the victim attached with the article.

"I think I've seen this guy. He works in that store in front of the park," Soobin muttered. Beomgyu sighed.

"Anyway, let's not talk about this anymore," Xiaojun pleaded. Ryujin nodded in agreement.

The rest of the lunch went on with Ryujin making most of the conversation with her friends in music club and, Soobin and Beomgyu making eye-contact occasionally and trying to find if telepathy really existed in real life. 

The day was steeply declining in quality as it moved forward. Soobin couldn't make anything out of the class he shared with Yeonjun. Even though Yeonjun came and sat beside Soobin, he couldn't bring himself to talk about anything of value because his thought either kept going back to how he will have to meet Seungwoo or what will he do about the fact he hurt a man. So, he just squirmed in his seat while Yeonjun glanced at him expectantly time and again.

"Sorry," Soobin kept repeating when he reached the animal clinic for work.

"Relax, Soobin. You're all of two minutes late," Heochan assured him. 

"I just don't want you to think I'm slacking,"

"Soobin, I guarantee you, you're one of the least slacking kids in town," Heochan stated and offered a smile. Soobin brightened up.

When Soobin glanced up, he could see Seungcheol standing outside through the glass of the door. He froze in his place as the thought of Seungcheol coming here to arrest him because the police department had somehow found out he was behind the attack flashed in his head. Seungcheol twisted the handle and pushed the door to reveal a leashed police dog. 

"Hey, I see somebody's ready to get their stitches out," Heochan said affectionately. Soobin let his guard down a little, seeing Seungcheol didn't really come to vet to apprehend him or anything. Seungcheol led the dog toward the examination table where Heochan was standing and crouched down to unfasten its leash.

"Hello again, Soobin," Seunghcheol said after standing straight. Soobin nodded to return the greeting and pretended to busy himself in taking out the equipment required to treat the dog.

"Hey, listen. While I am here, you mind taking a look at these picture I was telling you about?" Seungcheol requested, holding out an file written "evidence" on its cover.

"I'm not exactly an expert," Heochan chuckled in modesty. He took the file from Seungcheol and took out the pages inside it. He looked at the first photo and raised an eyebrow. "This is the guy who was attacked in the car?" 

"Yeah, " Seunghcheol said. "And we found wolf hair on the other body,"

"A wolf?" It slipped off Soobin's mouth and other two sets of eyes stared at him. He came closer and tried to cover it up by saying, "I mean, I read somewhere that wolves haven't been in the state for like sixty years," 

"True enough," Heochan accorded. He kept flipping through the photographs. "But wolves are highly migratory. They could have migrated from another state,"

"See this one, Mr. Choi?" Heochan hovered his index finger on a gash in the picture of the recent victim's face, who Soobin recognized as Lim Yeong Cheol. Soobin continued to listen intently. "Those are claw marks. A wolf would've gone for the throat, or the spinal cord with its teeth"

"So, what do you think? It's a mountain lion?" Seungcheol inquired.

"I don't know. A wolf _could_ chase down its prey, hobbling it by tearing at the ankles," Heochan paused. Soobin remembered how Yeonjun got dragged by his ankles in his dream. "and _then_ the throat,"

Seungcheol eventually left after informing them of the curfew after nine that the police department was issuing from tonight. After the officer had left, Soobin couldn't hold his restlessness. While everyone was suspecting and looking for a wild animal who was responsible for the series of attacks recently, he needed to know the truth. He stayed distracted the next half-hour and it didn't get unnoticed by Dr.Chan. 

"You don't look too good, Soobin. Is there anything going on?" Heochan inquired.

Soobin wanted to get off his work, even though he preached about not slacking to his boss some time ago. "Uh, no. Dr. Chan. My body is just not feeling well," He said with his forehead scrunched and pretended to continue working.

"Hey, don't push yourself too hard. I will call someone else in. Besides, since there's a curfew, I was planning on closing earlier anyway. You should go home and rest,"

"Will that be alright?" Soobin spoke politely.

"Yes, just go,"

Soobin walked through the woods and tried to find the burnt Han residence from his memory of the earlier visit. He was not sure if he would actually find Seungwoo there, but it's not like the guy left him with some kind of contact details. When he caught the sight of the house from the distance, he saw a police car standing in front of it. Soobin quickly hid behind a tree and watched as a deputy snoop around. Suddenly, Soobin heard a dog barking that, he comprehended, was sitting inside the police vehicle. The deputy looked confused at first and when the dog didn't calm down at all, the expression on his face shifted into fear. He quickly got into his car and drove away. Thanks to the dog and its excellent ability to detect shady people, Soobin could now confirm that Seungwoo must have been inside the house. He walked out of his hiding spot and advanced toward the house. 

"Seungwoo?" He called out when he reached the porch. There was no response. "I know you're in here,"

He pushed the already unlocked door and got in the dark atmosphere of the house. It was already late afternoon, so he knew he wouldn't get any sort of support from the sunlight for his sight. Contrary to his assumption, however, he could see almost everything in the dark. As nocturnal animals, he remembered, wolves are supposed to have a better vision in low-lighting.

"You're right, Seungwoo. I do need your help," Soobin said desperately. He heard a faint footstep echoing inside the house. He glanced in different direction to find out the actual source of the sound. "I think I am ready for that conversation you were talking about," 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both Seungyoun and Heochan should be 22.


	6. Six Feet Under

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin and Beomgyu investigates the evidences left by the werewolf responsible for the attacks.

"So, what happened? Your buddy Beomgyu couldn't google to give you answers anymore?" Seungwoo gloated, standing on the top of the staircase with both his hands inside the pockets of his pants and smiling smugly. Even though he was no longer wearing a leather jacket, he didn't look any less devious. Soobin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He already knew Seungwoo could be stalking him, but Soobin didn't think he could be so blatant about the matter.

"I think I did something last night," Soobin started speaking. He saw the arrogant expression on Seungwoo dissolve at those words and he started making his way toward Soobin by climbing down the stairs. "I had a dream about someone. But someone else got hurt. And it turns out that part of the dream might have actually happened,"

"You think you attacked the driver?" Seungwoo eventually stood in front of Soobin. Soobin's eyes widened at the question. How did Seungwoo know? 

"Did you see what I did last night?" Soobin spluttered.

"No," Seungwoo replied plainly. Soobin couldn't figure the male out at all. Why did it feel like the other was withholding information? Why couldn't Seungwoo straightforwardly tell the truth? Soobin ran his hand through his hair and exhaled loudly in frustration. Seungwoo studied the younger's movement.

"Look, I can show you how to remember. I can even show you how to control the shift, even on a full moon." Seungwoo circled around Soobin and tried to persuade him. "But it's not gonna come for free,"

There it was- a bargain. Soobin already expected that from Seungwoo, but he thought he could avoid falling into the plan Seungwoo weaved for him since the night Soobin was made into a werewolf. 

"What do you want?" Soobin turned to make eye contact with the elder.

"You'll find out," Seungwoo vowed. "But, for now, I am gonna give you what you want. Go back to the car. See it. Feel it. Let your senses - sight, smell, touch. Let them remember for you,"

"That's it? Just go back?"

"Do you want to know what happened, or not?"

"I just want to know if I hurt that man,"

"That's really it?" Seungwoo raised an eyebrow.

"Yes,"

"Actually, you also want to know if you will hurt Yeonjun," The smug expression was back on Seungwoo's face and this time Soobin didn't restrain himself from rolling his eyes. Soobin passed him by and pulled the door.

"Please, don't stalk me anymore," Soobin appealed before leaving. Seungwoo simply pulled the corner of his lips.

Soobin stood outside the house and took a proper look at the area where he spotted a pile of freshly dug soil earlier when he just arrived at the house. He thought he could smell something rancid nearby. He contemplated whether he should go close to examine if the scent is coming from the mound, but then he remembered he was in Seungwoo's territory. He didn't want to do something that could potentially offend the male.

**_Halsey - Colors pt. II_ **

Soobin sent a text about going to the crime scene to Beomgyu on the way out of the forest. By the time he had reached the area near the park, it was dark all around. He casually stood at a place from where he can keep an eye on the road where the attack took place last night. The car was there exactly as he saw in the morning. The police tapes, on the other hand, was restricted to the proximity of the car, allowing other vehicle to pass through the road. Fortunately, there were no officer posted near the car at the moment. He walked until he reached the yellow plastic barrier, keeping an eye out for people who could notice his presence all the while. 

Soobin lifted the tape and got inside the perimeter while trying to keep his cool and ward off his tenseness. He touched the surface of the hinge where the door of the car was detached. A scene of Yeonjun screaming from the driver seat flashed in his memory. Soobin shivered involuntarily and tried to move on to another part of the car. The bumper. He saw red splatters all over the bumper starting from the rear windshield glass. At this point, he understood the uneasiness he was feeling now would not decrease by any means in the coming minutes. He looked down near the registration plate and another streak of memory appeared. Yeonjun helplessly lying down on the ground as a set of claws slashed on his chest. As Soobin blinked, the person on the ground changed to the actual victim, Lim Yeong Cheol and filled Soobin's ears with his painful shrieks. It made Soobin's breath hitch.

Soobin moved away from the car following the trace of the blood on the road. When he looked back at the SUV from a distance, he saw a figure jumping on the roof and pulling the driver side door. The piece of metal flew at his direction and he brought his hands above his face reflexively. He stopped whimpering when he found out that was just another part of his recollection. He observed the road which led from the part he was standing to the car. This time he could consciously remember seeing Lim Yeong Cheol getting dragged over the concrete. He moved to get behind the car once again but to an area outside the tape. He could imagine a figure bending down, no, attacking that victim as Soobin watched from the rear. The figure with a pair of glowing eyes turned around as Soobin tried to hinder the figure from further attacking and aimed a scratch toward his chest too. But, because Soobin brought one of his arms up to defend himself, the arm received the incision. He gasped and the scene disappeared.

Soobin felt chills running down his body and his breathing getting rapid to catch up with his increasing pulse. He tried to recover himself from the shock and walked fast in the direction of the park. As he walked close, he found a confused Beomgyu standing with his hands on his hips whose expression changed to surprise as soon as he saw Soobin coming over.

"What the hell, Soobin? You do not just drop a text like that and expect me to come so fast," Beomgyu complained.

"It was Seungwoo," Soobin puffed.

"What?" Beomgyu looked lost.

"The one who attacked the driver,"

"How do you know?"

"Well, Seungwoo told me to go back to scene. He told me I could remember if I saw the car and use my senses,"

"And did it work?"

"Yes. There were a pair of glowing eyes, but they weren't mine," Soobin paused from his fast talking as Beomgyu took the information in. "I think I was actually trying to protect Lim,"

"Wait, why would Seungwoo help you remember that he attacked the driver?"

Soobin sighed at the question. Beomgyu looked at him expectantly for some seconds and then he started walking in some direction. Soobin followed his friend.

"I don't know," Soobin said dejectedly.

"It's gotta be a pack thing," Beomgyu scrunched his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Like an initiation. You do the kill together,"

"Because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience?" 

"Yeah. Whatever, but the point is you didn't do it. Which means you are not the killer," Beomgyu pointed.

Soobin sighed in relief. 

"Which also means," Beomgyu continued.

"I wouldn't hurt Yeonjun," Soobin said enthusiastically. Beomgyu stopped in his tracks and looked at his friend disapprovingly.

"Uh, I was gonna say, you wouldn't attack me,"

"Yeah, that too," Soobin awkwardly smiled. "Anyway, why are we going this way?"

"I am going to buy some food since I am already outside,"

Beomgyu pushed the door handle and entered a restaurant. Soobin joined Beomgyu who had immediately stood behind a queue for ordering.

"Do you think, the other body in the woods, it was Seungwoo's doing?" Beomgyu asked.

"The wolf fur on the girl's body says, a big possibility it was," Soobin said after thinking for a while. "But we can't really prove it was Seungwoo,"

"Yeah. But I think we would have a chance if we could find the other half of the body,"

Then it clicked within Soobin's brain. The smell of something rotten in Seungwoo's yard.

"What? Do you have any clue where it could be?" Beomgyu said as he studied Soobin's expression.

"Today, when I visited Seungwoo's house, I saw something buried there. I thought I could smell blood,"

"That's awesome," Beomgyu exclaimed and took a moment to go over what he said. "I mean, that's terrible,"

Beomgyu and Soobin had reached the counter by then, so Beomgyu started talking to the cashier about his order.

"We just have to confirm if the blood was the same from the other half. Right?" Soobin asked Beomgyu once he was done ordering.

"Yeah. Let's go to the morgue sometime tomorrow," Beomgyu suggested.

"We can't wait that long. There's a murderer walking out in the open," Soobin posited.

"But there's a curfew tonight," 

" _Because there's a murderer walking out in the open_ ," 

"Argh, okay. We will go from here,"

Soobin followed Beomgyu who walked out with a plastic bag full of food.

"You brought the jeep?" Soobin said in awe as he spotted the antique vehicle.

"How else did you think I came so fast? I am not Barry Allen,"

"Your brother won't mind?"

"He can't mind over something he won't know,"

"Wow, I like rebel Beomgyu," Soobin wiggled his eyebrows.

"Of course you do. Who else will accompany you to these missions?" Beomgyu got into the driver seat and started the engine. He saw the clock on the dashboard coming to life. "Hey, isn't it the time you get off work?"

"Yes," Soobin bit his lips before eventually confessing. "I bailed work,"

"Huh, my friend has changed," Beomgyu sounded amused.

They reached the hospital within fifteen minutes. Soobin saw his friend bringing the food bag with him, but he didn't comment on it since he feared Beomgyu would bail from _the mission_. Soobin split up after reaching the reception with Beomgyu who gestured at some chairs where he will be waiting for Soobin to get back.

Beomgyu sat down and reached down the bag to bring one of the foil packets out. Before he could open the cover of the packet, he found a little boy staring intensely at him, actually his food to be exact. Beomgyu became aware of the alluring smell coming out of his food bag. But, hey, as long as there is no no-food sign, he has the liberty to eat. He stared back at the kid, as a form of hey-what-are-you-looking-at and you-are-not-getting-any-of-it. However, his staring contest was cut short due to the mother of the kid passing judging looks at him and his food bag. He picked up a flyer from the table next to them and held it in front of his face with one hand to hide his mouth so that he could eat his potato wedge without coming off as him flaunting his food. He peeked from his shield to see if he was still being stared at. He saw the mother was passing even a worse judging face toward him. He wondered why some teenager eating could piss a women off. Suddenly, he knew why. The flyer that he was holding was a leaflet about menstruation. Jeez. He hoped that one day people would stop being prejudiced about sex education. But he knew today's not that day. Because today he have to conform to the norms of the socially appropriate behavior set by the women sitting in front of him. Damn his self-consciousness.

After re-packing his food into the bag, he walked away from the waiting area. He started strolling in the surrounding corridors. As he kept looking around, he caught sight of someone familiar lying in bed. It was Lim Yeong Cheol covered in long white bandages. A nurse pulled the curtain in front of his bed and went out of the room without paying much to Beomgyu who was standing near the room. Beomgyu thought he could take his chances to see the victim properly for himself. He entered the room and cautiously swept the curtain away. Contrary to how he had seen the man this morning, he was in a better condition - relaxed, sleeping and definitely not bleeding. Beomgyu sensed someone walking in. So, he quickly moved near the bedpost and hid behind the curtain. 

"Ah, who forgot to close this door?" A nurse arrived at the doorway. She sighed. "Didn't even pull the curtain" She entered the room.

"Hey, my shift is over. I am leaving," Another nurse peeked at the door. "Oh, isn't this the room of that victim of animal attack?"

"Yeah,"

"You think he'll recover?"

"Looks like it. I heard everything went well so far," The first nurse said taking a look at the pulse monitor and the patient. She briskly fixed the curtain.

"Well, I am off then,"

"Hmm, see you,"

Beomgyu breathed out a sigh of relief as the nurses left the room. He was glad he didn't get caught and also for the fact the man lying next to him is not going to die. He lightly stepped outside and cautiously closed the door after leaving the room. He believed that he did a good job at being discreet until he turned around and saw Taehyun standing close to him.

"Oh, hey Taehyun," Beomgyu tried to act casual.

"Hey," Taehyun sounded hesitant.

"You didn't see what I was doing here, did you?" Beomgyu treaded carefully.

"No, why? Were you doing something you weren't supposed to?" Taehyun spoke casually.

"Nope,"

"Taehyun, I think I am done here," Someone said standing at the end of the corridor. The person appeared to be a tall kid. Beomgyu felt like he had seen the boy before. Yes, the night when Beomgyu and his friends took a trip to the woods. The tall boy was the one talking to Seungcheol.

"Okay, let's go," Taehyun walked away in the direction of the other boy, before turning to say, "You know, there's a curfew tonight. You should stop loitering and go home,"

"Yes, sir," Beomgyu responded immediately, refraining himself from expressing his annoyance due to fact Taehyun automatically assumed he was loitering without knowing anything. Well, what can Beomgyu even protest about? Taehyun's assumption were not really wrong. But, it's all okay because he is loitering for a good cause.

Beomgyu quickly came back to the place Soobin last saw him to find Soobin was just walking in there from the distant.

"The scent was the same," Soobin claimed.

"So, he did bury the other half of the body in his property," Beomgyu narrowed his eyes and tilted his head down.

"Which means we have proof that he killed the girl," Soobin averred. "We just have to dig it out,"

"Tonight?" Beomgyu jerked his head up in disbelief.

"When else? We are running out of time," Soobin urged.

"Are we really?"

"Yes," 

"Okay, I guess we are gonna need a shovel. Good thing, my brother will not be home before eleven," 

Beomgyu and Soobin started walking toward the nearest exit. As soon as they took a turn, they found Soobin's elder brother standing near the reception, wearing all-white apron and a pair of glasses. Man, the amount of people they are running into in one night. Well, at least, this is not that co-incidental since Soobin's brother actually works in this hospital.

"What are you two doing here?" Seokjin approached them once he spotted the two teens halt in their tracks. Beomgyu took a look at Soobin's tensed face who simply kept blinking. He knew it. Soobin had went blank. It was upto Beomgyu to think of something and save themselves.

"Uh, big brother, Soobin is here to give you some food," Beomgyu feigned a cheerful expression.

"Really?" Seokjin looked at Beomgyu, surprised. Beomgyu handed him his food bag, despite his reluctance.

"Yes, we-he thought since the diners will be closing earlier due to the curfew, you will be stuck having the cafeteria food in your night shift, and we all know how it tastes. So, he thought he could bring you a little something," 

"Wow, I didn't know I had such thoughtful brother," Seokjin peeked inside and examined the content bag. Beomgyu hoped the elder wouldn't notice the one wedge that's missing. Soobin put up his signature dimpled smile. "Hmm, not something I usually eat. You sure, this is for me?"

"Of course, it is," Soobin chimed in.

"Okay, then, I will take it," Seokjin smiled. 

Soobin and Beomgyu continued to walk outside.

"You owe me a dinner, dude" Beomgyu huffed once they got enough far enough the building. He unlocked the driver side door of his car and got inside to pull the lock of the shotgun side door.

"Sorry. I will get you donuts on our way," Soobin said as he pulled the door open and got in. 

**_Zella Day - East of Eden_ **

The donut shop was just few hundred meters away from the hospital boundary. Beomgyu brought the jeep in front of the shop and waited in the car with the engine on, on spotting barely a crowd in the building as Soobin ran inside it. He looked out the window and simply stared at the shops a little further opposite to him. A man came out of a grocery shop and Beomgyu attempted to hide behind the steering wheel upon recognizing it was none other than Seungwoo. Beomgyu got reminded of the cons of residing in a small city. 

Fortunately, Seungwoo didn't notice Beomgyu. He just looked distracted while getting into that surprisingly expensive stylish car he apparently owned. Or probably stolen, who knows. The car got onto road that only lead in and out of the hospital and Beomgyu watched Seungwoo driving away. Okay, maybe it was not that bad Seungwoo is here, because they do have to head down to his house to dig out the girl the elder had buried in his premises. 

"I just watched Seungwoo driving toward the hospital. So, we have to hurry and finish our mission till he is out," Beomgyu made sure to make an air-quote using his fingers for 'our mission' when he spoke to Soobin after he had come back with a paper bag containing donuts. Soobin firstly scrunched up his face upon hearing Seungwoo's name and then his expression returned to normal as he simply nodded.

"So, Beomgyu, I have to tell you," Soobin spoke hesitantly. 

"Tell me what?" Beomgyu said as he stopped the car in front of his lawn.

"We can't take the jeep," Soobin spoke fast.

"What? Why?" Beomgyu sounded slightly agitated.

"Well, there's no way we can make it before the curfew starts. It's already past eight fifteen. We will risk more chance of getting caught if the car is with us," Soobin thoughtfully explained.

"Argh, fine," Beomgyu sighed. "The shovel's somewhere in the garage. You park the jeep. I will go look for it,"

Beomgyu got out of the car and opened the garage door. Soobin took the driver seat and started moving the jeep into the shed as instructed. He was doing a pretty good job until he almost hit Beomgyu who was busy looking for the tool inside, with the back of the car. Beomgyu screamed as Soobin hit the brake. 

"Sorry," Soobin yelled from the car. He turned the ignition off and got out to find Beomgyu puffing.

"Damn, how much did you bribe to get a license?"

Soobin simply gave a panicked laughter and scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, you found the shovel yet?"

Beomgyu pulled something out of a stack of random filthy objects in the corner of the garage and all the things piled up over it clattered on the ground revealing the handle of the shovel behind the stack. He pulled out the equipment and raised it upward. He held the shovel placing the wooden handle behind his head and glanced at Soobin.

"Let's go dig up a dead body," Beomgyu announced.

Seungwoo walked on the sparsely filled corridors of the hospitals. He made sure to drop by the cafeteria where he noticed a crowd of nurses and doctors and he guessed this must the typical dinner break time for most of the hospital employees. So far, he has passed by inconsiderable amount of staff in the hallways and he hoped the room he was heading to would be unattended as well.

Seungwoo went past a desk where there was no staff at the computer. He quickly searched for the patient he was looking for and fetched the room number. He heard footsteps coming his way from the nearby washroom and he quickly moved away.

"Look at me," Seungwoo stood in front of Lim Yeong Cheol's bed. He repeated. "Look at me" He watched the man laying in the bed slowly opening his eyes.

"What do you remember?" Seungwoo asked as Lim turned his eyes toward him.

"Han," Lim uttered, sounding defeated.

"How do you know my name?" 

"I'm sorry," Lim simply pronounced and averted his gaze to the ceiling.

Despite the extravagant act put up by Beomgyu with the shovel, Soobin was the one carrying the tool all the way to the Han residence. Beomgyu simply held a torchlight using his underarm, the paper bag in one hand and eating a donut with the other. Soobin is often amazed by his friend's ability to remain so non-chalant in serious matters. Then again, Beomgyu has his hyper moments too, where he gets so excited that he forgets the important things. That's why, Beomgyu is often seen to be procrastinating and digging into things that doesn't require actual attention, but also somehow finishing the work that had accumulated in the time he was busy wasting. Soobin doesn't know if he should worried be for his friend's lack of balance in distributing his concentration. 

"Something's different," Soobin said as he neared the mound next to the Han residence. The pungent smell coming from the body was fainter than he remembered, and it was mixed with something bitter.

"Different how?"

"I can't exactly describe it," Soobin simply said.

"Anyway, let's get this over with," Beomgyu said as he leaned on the tree and proceeded to bring out another donut from the bag.

"Why am I the one to do all the digging?" Soobin puffed.

"Well, you're the one with the hulk strength," Beomgyu took a bite from his pastry.

"We will take on turns,"

"Fine, but you will still do most of the work,"

Soobin continued to excavate for the next twenty minutes and he believed he made good progress. Even with his superhuman body, he started to feel a little exhausted and so he passed the shovel to Beomgyu who reluctantly took it and got to work. Ten minutes later, the tool was passed back to him and he found Beomgyu dug about one-fourth of the amount Soobin did. Soobin sighed. This is going to a long night.

"This is taking way too long," Soobin commented as he was handed the shovel to start his third turn of the burrowing.

"Just keep going," Beomgyu sang.

"What if Seungwoo comes back?" Soobin said as he drilled into the mound.

"Then, we will get the hell out of here,"

"What if he catches us?" Soobin's voice sounded a bit panicky.

"I have a plan for that," Beomgyu said eagerly.

"Which is?"

"You run one way and I run the other. Whoever he catches first, too bad,"

Soobin threw out a contempt look at his friend who had no effect to the expression.

"I hate that plan," Soobin spoke impassively.

Soobin saw Beomgyu stopping abruptly in between his digging when it was his turn and stood there examining the ground. 

"What happened?" Soobin asked him as he threw the shovel up on the ground, away from the hole he was standing inside. Soobin jumped inside and noticed a part of a bag sticking out. He helped Beomgyu remove the dirt above the bag to reveal the bag was bound with a rope all around it. They tried to unwind the loop as fast as they can. As soon as the last knot was loosened, both of them took a deep breath and started to unzip the bag. A little more than halfway through, they both jumped at the sight of what was inside and climbed out of the pit. The body of a wolf with black fur and canines looming out of its mouth rested inside the bag. The eyes of the creature were all grey and lifeless.

"What the hell is that?" Beomgyu yelled, perched in an awkward posture.

"It's a wolf," Soobin said, dumbstruck.

"I can see that," Beomgyu said, peeved. "I thought you said you smelled blood. Blood, as in human blood,"

"Yeah, I know. But remember when we came here, I told you it smelled like something different?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Beomgyu groaned. He sat up and sighed. "Anyway, We gotta get out of here. Help me cover this up,"

Soobin stood up from his position and went around Beomgyu to pick up the shovel. He found Beomgyu not moving a bit from his position, as if he was concentrating on something.

"What's wrong?" Soobin asked, concerned.

"You see that flower?" Beomgyu picked up the flashlight and accentuated a miniscule purple flower a little further away from them.

"What about it?" Soobin couldn't recognize the flower, or why it could be important.

"I think it's wolfsbane," Beomgyu said and advanced toward the plant. As he pulled the flower out, instead of a root, a thick string attached to it followed. Beomgyu walked in circle tugging the string carefully, liberating more of its length as he progressed in trying to reach the end of it. Soobin traced the trajectory of Beomgyu's movement and it looked like he was passing along what initially felt like a circle, that started resembling a spiral instead. As soon as the last of the fiber was dragged outward, Soobin witnessed a spiral of purple glow accompanied with thinly dispersed purple dust. He found it hard to breath in the circumference and stepped further away as he kept coughing.

"Soobin," Beomgyu muttered, looking down at the pit. Soobin joined his friend after recovering from the sudden indisposition. There were no longer a body belonging to a wolf inside the bag. Instead a figure of a women stared at them in her lifeless form. The female appeared just as Soobin remembered in his dream. He contemplated whether he can call it a dream anymore, because even if visiting the morgue and pulling out a body in there which only had lower limbs was not enough, looking at her face now, he knew it would only give him nightmares. 


	7. Curious Fools

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things fall out of course even though Soobin had managed to get Seungwoo arrested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday to Soobin!

"Did you really have to carry that all the way to your house?" Soobin pointed to the coil of strings attached with a few twirls of wolfsbane petals across its length, that Beomgyu had found earlier in Seungwoo's property. He currently stood behind Beomgyu's house after they had finished their mission as they covered up the hole they dug along with the body and tried to make the mound look as it did previously. 

"I forgot to create necessary arrangement for sneaking in, in case my brother comes home early. As you can see, he did," Beomgyu paused and pointed to the lights coming from his living room and kitchen. "So, I have to improvise. This will suffice as a rope, don't you think?"

"Shit, Beomgyu. I am sorry," Soobin spoke sincerely.

"It's okay," Beomgyu dropped the wolfsbane strings from his shoulders. 

"Wait, if your brother already inside, why do you need to sneak in?"

"Hmm?" Beomgyu kept looking between his balcony bars and the impromptu rope. "I don't think he has figured out I am not home,"

"How could he not?"

"The light's on in my room," Beomgyu pointed at the first floor. "It's past ten-thirty. My brother thinks I am desperately finishing homework," 

"It's hard to believe there exists a family where members don't want to intrude the younger one's room,"

"Oh, he intrudes plenty," Beomgyu filled in as he jumped and threw a loop section onto the one particular open headed bar on the balcony. He tugged the ropes to check if the makeshift climbing aid will hold.

Soobin felt that Beomgyu was giving vague answers on purpose, since then it won't necessarily be lying or hiding the truth about his relationship with his brother. The fact his brother didn't properly check if Beomgyu was actually inside felt strange to Soobin. Seungcheol had always been a friendly and a generally caring person. He was known for his hardworking and humble nature and he might be the youngest deputy sheriff this town had ever seen. Beomgyu was not exactly a person who followed rules. He caused trouble here and there, but he was never accused of something serious. The school never called his father when he was alive or Seungcheol when he became the head of the family. The teachers wouldn't call him unruly, but wouldn't necessarily praise him for anything particular. Soobin was sure the students at the school, even Beomgyu's other friends would do the same. It was somewhat like everyone knew him in this town, but he didn't exactly stood out in anyone's mind. Soobin hoped there doesn't come a day when he starts seeing Beomgyu that way too, just like others. He kind of felt bad that he troubled the already sleep-deprived kid tonight.

Soobin saw the officer who sat opposite to him inside the sheriff station paying no attention to him and being busy writing his reports. Seungcheol had called him in the morning telling him to drop by the station before school if possible, so he can take a proper statement about the call he made last night about a fishy burial in the forest and his suspicion was proved correct because the police had found the other half of the body they were looking for. The report-writing officer was no longer seated in his desk. So, Soobin decided to turn his attention to somewhere else, where he could see Seungwoo sitting on the bench with his hand cuffed and an apathetic expression on his face. Upon noticing Soobin staring at him, he suddenly converted his expression to a challenging one and Soobin looked away being intimidated. He saw Beomgyu striding through the entrance with his hand inside his pant pocket and making his way inconspicuously toward the detained male. Beomgyu made an eye-contact with Soobin and Soobin just shook his head in the direction of his friend to warn and stop him from doing what he was about to. How was Beomgyu here so early in the morning? Soobin is pretty sure that Beomgyu didn't sleep before finishing his studies last night even though it was already so late when Soobin left him.

Beomgyu slightly pulled a chair and pretended to sit opposite to an empty desk which happened to be near the part of the bench Seungwoo was sitting on.

"Just so you know, I am not afraid of you," Beomgyu saw Seungwoo glaring at him. "Okay, maybe I am. Doesn't matter."

"I just wanna know something," Beomgyu paused to see if there was any change in Seungwoo's expression. Seungwoo still had his piercing gaze on and his lips pursed. Beomgyu brought his chair a little closer and leaned his head toward Seungwoo. "The girl you killed was an werewolf. But she was a different kind, wasn't she? I mean, she could turn herself into an actual wolf and I know Soobin can't do that," He spoke in low volume. 

"Is that why you killed her?" He imposed.

"Why are you worried about me when it's your friend who is gonna be in trouble? What do you think people will do once he shifts in front of everybody?" Seungwoo spoke ominously.

"Oh, that's why you killed Lim Yeong Cheol as well. He could expose your identity," Beomgyu threw out, and saw Seungwoo feigning confusion to those words. Seungwoo might not know, but Beomgyu saw him heading to the hospital last night and now he could infer why.

Beomgyu felt a hand wrapping around his forearm that tugged him out of his position and dragged him away.

"There, stand," Seungcheol ordered. He looked around the office to check if anybody else, implicitly the sheriff, caught Beomgyu talking to the suspect. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I am just trying to help," Beomgyu claimed as Soobin came walking and stood near the Choi brothers.

"How about you _help me understand_ how you two came across this?"

"No, Mr. Choi. It was just me. I found this suspicious mound while I took a detour on the way of going home through the forest last afternoon," Soobin argued.

"I know where you work and live, Soobin. Why would you need to walk through the forest?"

"Nature motivates me so much in my evening jog. That's why, I take the long way home," Soobin quickly came up with an explanation.

"Yeah, you know Soobin. He is really serious about his exercise routine," Beomgyu said enthusiastically. 

"And you suddenly appeared at the station not even fifteen minutes since I called Soobin to come here," Seungcheol scowled. _As if you knew there would be a dead body,_ he hinted.

"It just happened. I was already awake, by the way." Beomgyu fortified.

"This early?" Seungcheol raised an eyebrow at his brother. "You sure, this has no connection to when I caught you at the woods the other night?"

"Purely co-incidental," Beomgyu glossed. Soobin watched the brothers enter into a banter.

"You didn't specifically go there looking for the body despite curfew?"

"Nope,"

"You're not lying?"

"How would you define lying?"

"I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?"

"Reclining...your body in...horizontal position,"

"Get the hell out of here," Seunghcheol sighed.

"Absolutely," Beomgyu immediately turned around.

Soobin politely smiled at stressed Seungcheol and started following Beomgyu toward the exit before taking one last look at Seungwoo.

"Dude, you okay?" Soobin asked, once outside.

"Huh? Yeah," Beomgyu appeared flustered as he marched toward the jeep, which he apparently _borrowed without consent_ from his brother again, not even looking at Soobin.

"Why are you here? You didn't need to come,"

"Uh, I couldn't sleep well anyway. Something was bugging me," Beomgyu finally stopped and tousled his hair.

"What happened?"

"When you were out taking whiffs in the morgue, I heard some nurses discussing about Lim. They said he was gonna recover. But then when I checked the local news articles at midnight, he was reported dead," Beomgyu conveyed his somberness as he fidgeted. "You know who was there in the hospital last night, right?"

"Seungwoo," Soobin muttered wearily. He looked up to meet Beomgyu's eyes. "At least, he is arrested now,"

"And what was the matter with that girl? How could she look like a complete wolf?" Beomgyu fretted.

"I tried searching if there was any connection about dead werewolf with wolfsbane, couldn't find anything," Soobin provided sincerely. "Maybe they bury you as a wolf or something,"

Beomgyu exhaled loudly. "Anyway, I gotta go before my brother finds out I took the jeep again."

"Yeah, see you in school,"

Beomgyu started his time in school with an weird incident today. As he made his way to his locker, he saw Ryujin standing in the hallway to his left and talking to some of her friends. A lacrosse stick hanged with her double-shoulder bag, _classic jock appearance_. She seemed to have noticed Beomgyu walking in the distant and bade her friends. She appeared bright and peppy on her way to Beomgyu who was a total contrast to her and looked skittish. He has to admit, taking more than prescribed dosage of Adderall was really a bad idea, even though it didn't seem that way last night.

"Hey, mister," She hopped next to Beomgyu.

"Huh-hi," He hoped that Ryujin wouldn't notice his jumpy gestures. He glanced at Ryujin when he found she wasn't saying anything else. She suddenly looked uncomfortable and blinked rapidly. She started coughing briefly and then taking rapid breaths.

"What happened?" Beomgyu asked concernedly.

"Nothing. I'm okay. I just have to go the washroom," Ryujin feigned a smile and abruptly left.

Beomgyu stood there cluelessly and prayed Ryujin to become alright. He was not feeling well enough to go after her, not that he would be allowed in girls' bathroom anyway. He went to his locker and pushed the huge bag roughly that he was carrying just for today. He brought the wolfsbane-slash-climbing-rope to his house last night, but forgot to throw it out when he rushed to the sheriff station this morning. Yes, it was handy some hours ago but after that every time he thought about how the source of the rope was from some girl's grave, he felt irked and thus came the necessity to throw it out as soon as possible. Even with his hyperactive feeling where his attention jumped from one thing to another, his thought frequently circled between Han Seungwoo, the dead girl and Lim Yeong Cheol. He didn't know why he was even thinking about it, when it was not something directly related to his life. That's the thing- _there was something addicting about digging through vague, unpleasant thoughts._

Beomgyu didn't catch Ryujin for the rest of the day. Soobin didn't make much conversation with him sensing his unwell condition. In the end, he had to spend his last period in infirmary where he was finally able to take a nap. He woke up as the bell rang announcing the end of the final class time for the day. He saw the students coming out slowly as he walked through the no-longer empty corridors. He stretched to get rid of his stiffness and thought he could use some fresh air and sunlight outside. To his surprise, he saw his brother standing outside, leaning on his work-car, that was parked in the nearest space to the entrance. However, he didn't have his uniform on. He was facing at a different direction and talking over the walkie-talkie, so he couldn't see Beomgyu coming near him. 

Beomgyu was glad he was not feeling hyper right now because he happened to hear something very unsettling over the span of his eavesdropping. His brother ended the conversation and turned around to be met with a pale and slack-jawed Beomgyu.

"Oh, you are here," Seungcheol tried to hide his awkwardness. "Why did you come out without your bag?"

"Er-it's inside. Soobin's taking pictures of my notes. So, I thought I could take a walk," Beomgyu lied, and immediately asked, "Big brother, Why are you here?"

"Huh?" Seungcheol shuffled in his position. "Oh, I saw you this morning, and thought you might be too tired to be walking home. So, I came to pick you up,"

Beomgyu didn't know what caused his brother to suddenly start acting so thoughtful, or if he should be touched by the fact his brother actually noticed in the times he was busy arguing with him at the station. But he didn't have time to think about this straining relationship with his brother, because he had to give Soobin the news about what he heard from his brother's conversation.

"Okay, you will have to wait a bit," Beomgyu tried to act casual.

"Hmm, take your time. I will be here,"

Beomgyu paced on the corridor, hoping Soobin hasn't left. He picked up his bag from the locker in the process. He soon found his friend standing at the doorway of the boys' changing room, and there was one other person with him. He stopped his track so he doesn't interrupt what looked like Yeonjun and Soobin exchanging numbers on their phone. He could see them passing flirting smiles to each other even from this distance, and he felt bad about the timing of the revelation he was about to make to his friend. 

Beomgyu slowly walked toward Soobin when he saw Yeonjun contentedly waving at Soobin and going away. His friend simply looked radiant and grinning from ear-to-ear as he held the phone.

"We exchanged numbers," Soobin said as he noticed Beomgyu's presence.

"Yeah, I saw," Beomgyu said softly. He added, "Good for you,"

"You look like you want to say something," Soobin said suppressing his grin and trying to put on a sincere expression. Beomgyu knew his friend was so unprepared for the coming event.

"Ah, yes. Er, my brother's outside. He came to pick me up, and I overheard him talking on the talkie, " Beomgyu paused to study Soobin's expression which no longer looked as delighted. "The medical examiner determined the killer to an animal, not human. Seungwoo is human, not animal. And so, he is not the killer and he is let out of jail,"

Soobin contorted to the words and exhaled loudly as he moved to enter inside the changing room. He looked dejected and somewhat scared. It was hard to accept how it turned out, after all, they went great length to bring evidence against Seungwoo, and the whole effort got wasted. Seungwoo got away with his crimes, using his loophole as a supernatural creature. The male knows fully well the two teenage boys can't be disclosing about werewolf affairs without preventing the truth about Soobin to be coming out with it. They never had the upper-hand. They had be some kind of fools to be believing otherwise.

Soobin placed his hands on the wall as a support as he took rapid breaths. His face didn't ease a bit from the scowling he put on as minutes passed by.

"Also my brother IDed the body. Her name was Han Sunhwa," Beomgyu felt like he should go through telling the whole thing if he was at it.

"Han?" Soobin was still huffing.

"Seungwoo's sister," 

This is the part that shocked Beomgyu the most, and he guessed, it was the same for Soobin too. He was not the best person to be advocating about the glory of familial relationship. He had read different homicidal stories and found multiple incidents where the person behind the murder ends up being someone from the family, whether by blood or choice. It's interesting to see how even a noble person can backstab people, how betrayal can come from the most trusted people. Seungwoo hasn't been, by any means, a noble person to Soobin, nor has he presented himself as a trustable one. If he could kill his own sister, what would he do to Soobin who had him arrested? Even though Soobin or Beomgyu couldn't win against the male, they did disrupt whatever plan he had conspired in his mind. How will he pay them back for it? Will they end up like Sunhwa? Or like Lim?

Soobin was threshing around at this point. He threw his bag violently on the floor, and kept rubbing his face or running his fingers through his hairs. Beomgyu knew his friend was thinking about the same thing as him, maybe even already imagining the worst case scenarios. This was bad. He needed to help him. He promised he would. So, he advanced toward his friend.

"Soobin, are you okay? Can you breathe?" Beomgyu tried to sound calmer than he felt. He wanted to show Soobin he was strong enough to be relied on, that he won't let anyone hurt Soobin, no matter how threatening they are. But he didn't know if Soobin could see that. He didn't know how can he get Soobin to look at him, so he can convey his support. "Are you having a panic attack?"

_**Skyler Grey - Wreak Havoc** _

"Get away from me," Soobin lashed out. Beomgyu backed up a little and his bag fell on the floor.

"No, Soobin. I'm here for you," Beomgyu mustered all his sincerity for that sentence. However, when he looked down at Soobin's hand, he saw claws were already brought out. And he knew his friend probably wouldn't be able to perceive the integrity of any sincere word that he would throw out next.

"Oh my god, you are shifting into a werewolf," He reflexively said and he regretted just as soon. Soobin looked at him with a snarl expression, making his yellow slit eyes and white fangs visible to Beomgyu.

"Stop saying werewolves," Soobin bellowed. Beomgyu fell on the floor, horrified. He looked at the door, but he knew he wouldn't have enough time to go through before Soobin will come blocking the way. So, he kept backing up in his track as fast as he can and tried to stand up in the process. He held on a locker and pulled himself up as he saw Soobin running toward him. He ran behind one of the row of lockers. Soobin leaped onto the top of a locker and growled fiercely at Beomgyu. Unknown to Beomgyu, Soobin could only see a human moving behind a red filter and he didn't recognize that human as his friend. Beomgyu kept springing between benches and moving between the rows of locker as Soobin jumped from on top of one lockers to another. Beomgyu managed to find an opening and ran his way toward the door. As he approached the doorway, he sensed someone standing there and he yelled them to move away immediately. The person showed no sign of movement and to make the situation worse, the person turned out to be a stern-looking Ryujin. 

Honestly, if Beomgyu heard growl and metal clanging sound nearby, he would never go looking for the source or even stand there trying to make out what was happening; it didn't matter what was happening, because whatever it would turn out to be, he knows it won't be anything good. However, here Ryujin was, standing formidably, not heeding to the sounds or Beomgyu's warning as he yelled and tugged her to come with him as he passed her by. The girl got guts, but can she fight a werewolf? The answer to that question is, apparently, yes. 

Beomgyu sensed Soobin leaping his way toward the doorway as he stood backing the wall outside the room, and Ryujin looked like she was ready to face him head-on. She simply pushed him by placing her both hands on each side of his shoulder. The momentum with which Soobin had advanced rashly toward Ryujin backfired on him as he got sent back with her calculated move and fell down on the floor far away. _Damn._ She needed to drop her diet and exercise routine, so Beomgyu could analyze where she got this man-strength from. Actually, scratch that. This was no man or woman strength. As Ryujin turned her face around, her eyes glowed yellow just like Soobin and Beomgyu concluded Ryujin was no ordinary human.

"What's in that bag of yours?" She huffed, vexed.

"What?" Beomgyu was disoriented from the sudden revelation. 

"That bag you brought today," Ryujin pointed. "There. What's in it?"

"Oh no, the wolfsbane," Beomgyu was suddenly hit by the realization that the presence of wolfsbane could be what amplified Soobin's panic and caused him to shift. It was called wolfsbane for a reason. It also explains why Ryujin was repulsed by him in the morning. 

"Crap," Ryujin vocalized the curse word Beomgyu was thinking to himself. "You need to get rid of it as soon as I hand it to you," She said rigidly. Beomgyu immediately nodded. There was not much time for conversation. 

"Sorry, Soobin," Ryujin muttered as a sets of claws came out from each of her palms. "It looks like I might have to hurt you a little,"

Beomgyu has to admit, _Ryujin got style_. He moved to stand at the doorway as Ryujin went inside the room, and witnessed a dramatic action scene unfold before his eyes. Ryujin couldn't reach Beomgyu's bag before Soobin came charging her. She brought out her fangs and breathed out as she examined his movement. She caught his wrist before he could scratch her and tugged it in another direction while clutching his chest with her other arm which acted as catalyst to her pull. Soobin staggered, but he didn't totally fall down. He recovered fast, but Ryujin had already dragged the bag underneath herself using her legs in the meantime. She picked up the next strike of Soobin with her lacrosse stick which she yanked out from the bag on her shoulder with pure reflex. As she held out the stick in front of her in power battle with Soobin who kept channeling massive strength onto the stick, she rear kicked the bag toward Beomgyu. There was no need for her to waste her strength on fending Soobin off with the stick, she just needed to buy that time to send the bag out. She immediately brought her knees toward Soobin's chest. Soobin groaned from the hit and tried to keep his balance, but failed as Ryujin didn't waste any time in pushing him off.

Beomgyu ran away with the bag as soon as it was passed at him and desperately searched for a garbage bin. Upon seeing a canister, he pulled the string of wolfsbane out, and shoved it inside without caring what kind of thrash got on his hands. He will have plenty of time to wash his hands later when his friend will return to being a human. He came back near the room to see Ryujin spraying the fire extinguisher toward the werewolf inside and then instantly shutting the door. Beomgyu joined her as she stood with one of her hands on the door knob and other hand carrying the extinguisher, ready to stream another round of foam if needed. She was apparently waiting for Soobin to calm down right now, and Beomgyu joined in the anticipation.

"Beomgyu?" They heard Soobin call out. Ryujin slowly opened the door and peeked inside, not yet putting the extinguisher down. When she confirmed Soobin was not going to attack his friends anymore, she pushed the door all the way. Her claws and fangs had retracted by then.

"Ryujin," Soobin softly whispered. Ryujin set the extinguisher down.

Beomgyu saw Soobin currently seated on a bench in the room, his fingers rubbing his forehead. He was looking down.

"What happened?" Soobin sounded dazed.

"You tried to kill me," Beomgyu spoke. "us," he added glancing at Ryujin. Soobin had lifted his head to look at Ryujin too.

"Ryujin, your eyes," Soobin looked agape. Ryujin sighed. She blinked and her eyes returned to normal.

"I guess, a conversation is long overdue," Ryujin commented.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's wondering, real-life wolfsbane has nothing to do with the wolfsbane in this series, just like the actual tv show.


	8. Rule of Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryujin shares her knowledge on the supernatural world, along with an unsettling story concerning the hunters.

Soobin tried to make himself as presentable as he can while he walked with Ryujin and Beomgyu toward the school parking lot where Seungcheol was waiting.

"You took so long," Seungcheol stated casually as he spotted Beomgyu. Upon seeing Soobin and Ryujin coming from behind his younger brother, he straightened up immediately. His eyes fell on the disheveled strands of Soobin's hair accompanied with a sweaty face. "Are you okay, Soobin?"

"Yeah," Soobin replied immediately. It seems like he had attractedd attention to himself despite attempting the opposite. So, he exaggeratedly tried to fix his hair. 

"Do you guys need a lift?" Seungcheol inquired, wanting to figure out why Ryujin and Soobin made no move to part from Beomgyu as seconds passed by. 

"No, uh, we were in the hallway discussing about this group project we have. We realized we wouldn't have much time in the future, so we will be starting today. These two are coming over," Beomgyu animatedly explained. He paused and added. "Is it okay?"

"Of course. Why would you need to ask? Soobin and Ryujin are always welcomed in our house," Seunghcheol chuckled, looking embarrassed from the way Beomgyu was making him to be some conserved person in front of his long-time close friends.

"Okay, people, I want this discussion to be informative and not just allegation flying around. Apologies can be in order later. So, everyone, " Beomgyu declared and dramatically added, "get ready to spill," He dropped his bag somewhere on the floor without looking and, plopped onto the bed lying on his chest.

"I will go first. Why the hell did you have wolfsbane in your school bag?" Ryujin sat down after pulling the chair from Beomgyu's study table, while Soobin sat cross-legged on the limited space of the bed left after Beomgyu had taken over it.

"We found it at the grave of this werewolf girl. I was planning on throwing it out after school," Beomgyu replied casually.

"What werewolf-" Ryujin was cut off before she could try and get a proper understanding of the answer put forward by Beomgyu.

"Okay, next. My question, what's your werewolf origin story?" Beomgyu said impassionedly.

"My parents wouldn't approve of me telling anything about the supernatural world, but" Ryujin muttered in low voice as she leaned her head back on the chair. 

"Your parents knows?" Beomgyu raised his eyebrows as he raised himself a little from his laying position.

"I was born a werewolf," Ryujin confessed, appearing phlegmatic in comparison to Beomgyu. "It runs in the family,"

Ryujin straightened her posture. She watched the two boys look at her and then at each with awe and going silent after the discloser of her identity. She couldn't understand what the boys actually felt. Were they going to second guess all those years of friendship with her? She wouldn't like it if they start seeing her in a new light just because they came to know about her werewolf nature. She knows she wouldn't do that to Soobin or Beomgyu if the roles were reversed.

"Okay," Soobin said, acknowledging the fact Ryujin was getting uncomfortable with the extent of shocked expression on her friends' faces.

"What's yours?" Ryujin softly asked.

"Remember the night we went to search for the body in the woods? You said you heard Soobin screaming, then denied it," Beomgyu was not easily letting go of the fact he was deprived of the knowledge about the werewolf community by Ryujin over the years. Ryujin sighed and looked away.

"So, it was really you," Ryujin said after some second, staring at Soobin intensely. "Then, you texted me lying..."

"I didn't sent those texts, but yes, I lied to you in school. I am sorry about that. I was going to tell you eventually," Soobin poured his justifications.

"Hey, don't move on to apologies. We were not done sharing facts," Beomgyu groused, in the middle.

"Who sent those text then?" Ryujin spoke in a serious voice.

"Han Seungwoo. He is the one who turned me into a werewolf," 

Ryujin knitted her eyebrows together in contemplation. She spoke after a moment, "Last time I heard, Han Seungwoo is not an alpha," 

"Alpha?" The boys chanted at the same time. Beomgyu asked, wide-eyed, "What's an alpha?"

"Well, Alpha is like the leader of the pack. The only kind of werewolf capable of transforming people with their bite. The rest of the members are _Beta werewolves_ like you and I. The ones without a pack are Omegas,"

"How do you know if someone is an Alpha or not?" Soobin sounded hasty.

"Alphas are _more powerful_ , _more animalistic_ ," Ryujin spoke knowledgeably. "Their eyes glow red in their werewolf form," 

Soobin and Beomgyu exchanged looks among themselves. They had both seen red eyes on that night in the woods. But only Soobin has seen Seungwoo in his wolf form and it was not remotely red. 

"Then, what does bluish eyes mean?" Soobin posed.

"I haven't heard of any blue eyes among werewolves," Ryujin stared at Soobin, confused.

"Have you heard of werewolf turning into a full wolf?" Beomgyu raised his query. Ryujin turned toward him and shook her head. While having Ryujin, who had been part of the supernatural world for all her life, had benefitted the group but not even she could provide all the answer to the mysterious events happening in this town.

"Oh my god," Soobin exclaimed quietly. He appeared all worked up.

"What is it?" Ryujin circled her attention back to Soobin.

"Well, I connected some wrong pieces in the puzzle. Seungwoo was there on the night I got bitten, but you're telling me he isn't an alpha. It means, _there was a third werewolf that night_. Both Beomgyu and I saw a pair of red eyes then. Whoever these eyes belong to was the one who turned me. He could have killed Seungwoo's sister too," 

"Is she the werewolf girl you were talking about?" Ryujin glanced at Beomgyu.

"Yes, the body in the woods," Beomgyu conferred.

"And then, I was there when Lim was attacked by another werewolf. I assumed it was Seungwoo because he was the only other werewolf I knew. But it seems like there are many more werewolves in this town," Soobin sounded dismayed. Beomgyu looked disturbed upon the sudden exposition. He too had his share in making some wrong conclusion in this matter.

"Yeah, it made sense if Seungwoo attacked Lim. He was in the hospital on the night Lim died. The facts aligned in my head back then," Beomgyu propped up.

"Hey, who was it flaunting their detective skill just last week?" It seemed like Ryujin wasn't letting go of Beomgyu either, who had thrown shade at her earlier for hiding some truths.

"Eh, every detective has at least one case of trial and error, okay? And it's not fair if your source is unreliable like Soobin here," Beomgyu started defending himself.

"Guys," Soobin interrupted before his two friends start a tiff in this 'informative discussion' and stray away. Both the party backed off, but Soobin could detect the passive-aggressive aura radiating from them. He guesses this is the most he can hope for, from his friends, after today's climactic event.

"Well, if I had to reason, it doesn't totally erase the suspicions about Seungwoo. He could be responsible for one or the other. We can't say anything for sure right now," Ryujin asserted.

"Yeah, but we got him arrested. So, we can _for sure_ say that he is pissed at us and that we are in trouble now that the police had freed him," Soobin said anxiously.

"That's expected from you two," Ryujin shook her head in a gesture of expressing disappointment toward her friends. She sighed and frowned. "If only you two didn't lie to me," 

"What about the fact you never told us about yourself?" Beomgyu backed up. _Here they go again._ "We have been friends for like forever,"

"My pack is sensitive about exposure. I am always advised against telling anyone, even friends. Would you believe if I told you, my mother has this specific cautionary tale about trusting human friends?" Ryujin leaned forward in her chair to emphasize her side of the story.

"And how does this story go?"

"I had a cousin, who came to live with us for a while. I was probably nine or ten back then. And he was what, fourteen, I guess. Well, I barely remember him now. My mom tells me he wasn't much of a pack person, and he was close with this boy," Ryujin paused and got up to lean on the window frame. She crossed her arms and continued, "who turned out to be a werewolf hunter. My cousin went missing one day and later his body was found in the woods,"

Ryujin sighed and gazed at the ceiling. "The police reported the cause of his death as poisoning. But they also told us they found wounds on his body which didn't look lethal. He was a werewolf, any non-lethal wound would have healed. What my pack deduced was those wounds must have been inflicted with wolfsbane which caused the poisoning itself,"

Ryujin glanced at Beomgyu and Soobin who looked solely uncomfortable in their place and stared back at her speechless. They didn't expect the story to be this simple, short and bluntly tragic. 

"Who else would know to use wolfsbane infused weapons against a werewolf, if not the hunters in this town?" Ryujin came back to her seat. "I had a feeling you had wolfsbane with you after what happened this morning. I was keeping an eye on you all day, trying to find out if you had any connection with the hunters. And good thing I did, or else, who would have saved your ass? And did I hear a thank you so far? I don't think so,"

"Hey, thank you sessions are always saved for the last," Beomgyu protested, almost mumbling.

"You have any idea who the hunters are?" Soobin was unnerved by the narrative.

"I know there's this Kim family, but they also have other people working for them. So, I can't have an account of every hunters in this town,"

"You're talking about the rich and influential Kim family living in the north?" Beomgyu knew several Kim families, but he could picture only one in particular if the case involves employing people and cumulating weapons, because that would definitely need connection and money. That family is also one of the longest residents among those currently living in this town. Ryujin nodded, affirming Beomgyu's deduction.

"Then, we come to the second cautionary tale,"

"There's a second?" Beomgyu exclaimed. Soobin could resonate with him, for he was also not ready for another caustic story himself.

"Yes. It's called why Han Seungwoo is a bad news in the community. I don't know what he exactly did, but he caused some trouble and ended up confronting the hunters," Ryujin folded one of her palms and placed it on her chin. "Then, the fire incident happened. _Around the same time my cousin brother disappeared._ My pack believes the hunters had something to do with it,"

"The hunters killed his entire family?" Soobin gasped.

"Hmm, there's no proof, it's all theories from my pack. The werewolves in this town did not fear the hunters as much when the Han pack was around. I think that's why they did it,"

Soobin doesn't want to form an opinion on anyone's favor yet. Not when he had just came to know about the incidents, not when he hadn't done any research on it. Although he trusts Ryujin, even she doesn't know the full truth about the matter. He doesn't know anything about Seungwoo or his werewolf family. However, both Seungwoo and Ryujin's cousin was just children at the time. It bugged him to think the hunters could attempt to kill them so unsympathetically. What amount of evil could they have done to be treated like that? Or was it the hunters who were the evil ones? Wouldn't he be prejudiced toward the werewolves if he was still a human and just be supportive of the hunters? But Ryujin was a werewolf, she was also his friend. Then again, he had attacked a friend, only because of getting consumed by his wolf side. 

Soobin knows about the primal tendencies that comes along with all the strength in a werewolf. He has felt it. He was scared of it. He visualized all the catastrophe that could be caused due to who he is. In fact, he was at the verge of committing one today. But is it all there is? What if he could control it, and use his powers for something good if any opportunity arises? Wouldn't it prove who he is, beyond his predatory instinct? Of his true nature? He thought back to the time he heard a gunshot from the hunters who were chasing him, and he doesn't yet know if the shot was taken to _intimidate_ or _impale_ him. So, he knows he cannot take that risk and wait for good-willed hunters to actually follow 'ask questions first, shoot later' policy. He has to listen to his self-preservation side of him, specially if history lesson says, his friends and his brother would also be in the way of harm due to the hunters catching a whiff of him being a werewolf. 

"Well, moral of the story is I am not supposed to turn out like my cousin or someone like Seungwoo. I have to stay loyal and keep away from any kind of trouble that gets attention of the hunters," Ryujin concluded. 

Soobin wouldn't compare, of course. But while Beomgyu has given all the support he can as a human, even risked his life for that very reason, it was Ryujin who saved Soobin from an unimaginable guilt if he ended up hurting Beomgyu. And it seems that she chose to help her friends out despite all the warnings from her pack. He doesn't know if it was self-centered of him to think he was grateful for the fact Ryujin turned out to be a werewolf. But with her, it felt less helpless to be living this life. Ryujin gave out this aura that she could handle any difficulties coming her way back at the changing room and Soobin is desperate for that sense of strength, given he already admired Ryujin even as a human.

There was a knock on the door and the three of them froze in their position. They turned their attention to the sound, hoping the person in the other end didn't heard their conversation.

"Hey, you guys want anything? Food? Drinks?" Seunghcheol peeked from the ajar door.

"Uh, we're okay, big brother." Ryujin said politely.

"Are you sure? I am making tea,"

Ryujin looked around the room with a questioning gaze at her friends one after another and the two people nodded at her direction. She found it a little funny to do it because it was Beomgyu's house and he should be the one to do this kind of formality.

"I think we will all take tea," Ryujin smiled.

"Okay," Seungcheol looked like he was going to leave, but then he peeked from the door again. 

"Beomgyu, I get that you want to be comfortable and your project partners are just your friends. But it's still an academical matter, so be a little proper and sit up," Seungcheol advised. Beomgyu groaned and sat leaning on the wall making sure his brother saw him following the instruction. After the kind ride offered by his brother, he didn't think it would be too soon to be starting to miss the usual Seungcheol. Soobin and Ryujin avoided staring at the Choi brothers and instead glanced at each other the whole time. However, the three of them was more relieved than anything, considering the fact Seungcheol hadn't figure out what kind of conversation they were having.

"Beomgyu, you're not gonna make your brother come upstairs again with tea cups all by himself, will you?" Ryujin said, once Seungcheol was gone.

"No, ma'am," Beomgyu got up lethargically, and went out of the room.

Silence filled the room and Soobin tried to remember what he was thinking about before getting interrupted. _Oh right, Ryujin._

"Thank you for helping me, Ryujin." Soobin voiced his gratefulness. Ryujin appeared a little taken aback.

"I would have helped you no matter what, Soobin, you know that. It doesn't matter how many stories I have listened from my parents," Ryujin looked into Soobin's eyes and spoke softly. Soobin returned her gaze and let a smile settle on his face. A little time had passed and awkwardness was beginning to settle in. 

"Uh, I don't trust Beomgyu with the cups. So, I'll go help," Ryujin chuckled, breaking from the sentimental atmosphere that had grown in the room. Soobin was somewhat amazed that Ryujin was being thoughtful about Beomgyu in spite of the passive accusations he was throwing toward her just some minutes ago. Soobin heard the two bickering about "the correct way to hold cups when it is filled with hot beverage" as they came up the stairs with their afternoon snacks.

"Well, it's not like I have a full list of werewolves residing in this town. As far as I know, there is currently no alpha in Beacon Hills. My grandfather is our alpha, and he visits us once in a while. He has been here for the past month, but he is like seventy and he already has a pack. _A pack who is very careful._ So, there's no reason he would go around biting and turning people," Ryujin said in between sipping her tea.

"Huh, I guess, we just have to be generally careful about whoever this alpha is," Beomgyu remarked.

"What about Seungwoo?" Soobin asked.

"Keep an eye out for him too. Have me or Beomgyu on speed dial. Maybe even call the police if needed. He may be reckless and unmindful, according to my pack, but I am sure he wouldn't want to risk exposure himself in any case," Ryujin provided. Soobin sighed.

Ryujin exhaled and said, "I know I am going to sound like my parents now, but the ones you really need to look out for is the Kim family and their posse," 

Soobin couldn't agree more. The only issue with Ryujin's advice was that he have to remember it enough to abide by it. He knows himself to be a sucker for living a stress-free life. A life dictated by his mood and a series of sudden dispositions. He hopes if he is ever going to get caught in a bad situation by any of the three parties between this unknown alpha, suspicious Seungwoo or notorious hunters, it should not be because he was being arrogant about doing something stupid. 


	9. Out of Character

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Much to Ryujin's dismay, unathletic Soobin tries out for the lacrosse team in hopes of getting close with Yeonjun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to clear out the fact: Taehyun now he is a sophomore because he skipped a grade in middle school

After Soobin's class ended, he quickly found Ryujin, walking down the hallway in her lacrosse outfit and holding her helmet in her arms. He paced to catch up and walk beside her. She simply looked to her side to see who it was but didn't greet him. Soobin noticed how she looked fidgety.

"I don't understand why you're nervous," Soobin remarked blithely.

"What's not to understand? Coach is holding a tryout and I might not get in?" Ryujin put off a petulant expression.

"You might not get in? Weren't you the vice-captain last season?" Soobin looked confused.

"Well, if you know coach, he doesn't make exception or care about past records. He's always looking for better players. So, you either do well in tryout or you don't," Ryujin explained. Soobin wiped the smile off his face. "I've seen some tough, built freshmen this week, talking about trying out on the team. God, I hope they suck,"

Soobin looked at Ryujin who didn't look apologetic in the least as she further kept blabbering about how other people's success would hinder hers. He never understood the passion Ryujin had for lacrosse, well to be broad, the passion anyone has for sports in general. Their school didn't have any separate lacrosse team for females, but that didn't stop a girl or two to make it into the team once in a while; understandable, since coach doesn't discriminate because he really be looking for any good player he can recruit. He supposes all those rumors about the coach blackmailing students with grades to join the team must be true. Last season, Ryujin was the only girl in the team, and she managed to get quite a few spotlights on her, even though the team couldn't win the tournament in the end. Despite Soobin's reluctance, he was made to attend the final game. He didn't care much for the game, but he concluded Ryujin looked like an actual hotshot in the field.

"Well, whatever happens, I believe in you, Ryujin," He tried to cheer her up and stop her from further complaining about factors that weren't in her control and so, she didn't need to be worried about those.

As Soobin and Ryujin took a turn, they noticed Beomgyu coming in from opposite end of the hallway and Soobin waved his hands to get the other boy to catch their presence in the crowds. It worked and Beomgyu started making his way toward them cheerily. In between the next few seconds, they saw Beomgyu bumping into a guy who was carrying a box cartoon, apparently full of lacrosse equipment, which was now scattered all over the floor. They moved closer to the scene.

"Why can't you people see where you're going? Running in the hallway when it is already crowded..." The guy Beomgyu crashed into complained and proceeded to pick up the contents of the box. Soobin can't help thinking how the boy sounded like old grumpy teachers. If one is to wonder, there is only one guy who is famous for treating students, specifically students like Beomgyu, the way grumpy teachers would, who is none other than their sophomore class representative Kang Taehyun; as if Beomgyu's luck couldn't get any worse and if only Soobin could actually feel sympathy for his friend.

Beomgyu kept apologizing, but he kept his head down as to not let Taehyun recognize him and helped him collect the fallen materials. He spared a look at his friends who didn't extend any hand and instead was moving away from the area with an entertained look on their face, to which he narrowed his eyes at them with contempt. Taehyun finally looked at Beomgyu while he was busy eyeing his friends, and couldn't hide his annoyance.

"Hey, aren't you in charge of the lacrosse equipment?" Taehyun managed to put off his scowl and plainly asked.

"Not voluntarily," Beomgyu cheekily remarked. It is true, he never applied for the position. The coach just simply called him as he was walking past his room one day and told him to bring the equipment to the field before practice. Then he made Beomgyu do that almost every time the team gathered for practice. The coach didn't even bother to officially appoint Beomgyu to take care of the equipment later on, but the reigning team, which included Taehyun, didn't know that. They simply assumed Beomgyu is their equipment guy.

Taehyun and Beomgyu stood up after they had finished putting the equipment back into the box. As Beomgyu turned to go toward his friends and confront, mostly yell at, them for leaving without helping him, Taehyun called him from the back, _almost sweetly_.

"What?" Beomgyu said obliviously.

"I believe these are yours," Taehyun suddenly handed the box onto Beomgyu and straightened up his posture with confidence with no intention to take the box back. Beomgyu, of course, was a little scared of the guy and fully aware of the fact he was disliked by the former. So, he couldn't do anything but comply.

Soobin and Ryujin snickered as they saw Beomgyu carrying the box with a hunched and dejected posture with Taehyun walking beside him and keeping watch.

"Just look at that guy. He doesn't look much worried about making the team," Soobin nodded toward Taehyun.

"He never looks worried about anything. I doubt that guy is even human,"

"Coming from someone who's not a human herself?"

"Oh, shut up,"

Soobin looked like he was thinking about something. "Hey, if nothing works out, you can just use your supernatural strength,"

Ryujin gave Soobin a disapproving look.

"Come on, don't tell me you never used it," Soobin whined. Ryujin scoffed.

"Well, not willingly. Sometimes, it gets triggered and mixed up," Ryujin confessed. Soobin didn't believe her a bit.

"I refuse to believe you are that ethical,"

"Says the one who suggested the unethical activity just now," Ryujin slapped Soobin on the arms with the helmet she was still holding.

"Ahh~ It's so unfair on the people trying out,"

"I regret helping you, Choi Soobin. You're calling me a cheater. Why did you have to be a werewolf out of all people?"

"At least, I won't cheat,"

"I don't cheat either," Ryujin protested.

"Ah~ not fair," Soobin continued, not listening to Ryujin.

"You wanna talk about fair? How about the time I pinned you to the ground in just one minute into the dual last evening and I am only half your size?"

"I don't remember~"

"Hey, don't talk to me anymore. I feel like if I continue this conversation with you any longer, I will loose braincell and become Beomgyu,"

Ryujin jogged away to get geared up as soon as they reached the open field, leaving Soobin to sit in the bench for the audience. Beomgyu joined him a few minutes later. Soobin was expecting another banter, but the way Beomgyu's eyes were glinting made it obvious that he had something else in mind.

"Hey, good thing you're here," Beomgyu said as he sat down.

"Well, how could I miss my friend's tryout? What kind of friend wouldn't support..."

"Yeah, we all know what kind of friend you are. Let me spill the tea before you spoil my mood,"

Soobin pouted. "What is it?"

"Guess who's trying for the team?" Beomgyu asked perkily.

"Who?" Soobin questioned indifferently.

"You seriously have no guess?" Beomgyu deadpanned.

"Ah, just say who it is,"

"Your crush, stupid. Choi Yeonjun."

Soobin wouldn't call Yeonjun his crush. However, he didn't spend time on defending the matter, because the first thing that came to his mind is to look around and try to find the male, which obviously failed to defend the matter. Yes, the indifferent introvert Soobin has a crush on Yeonjun who has come to join the lacrosse team.

Yeonjun was already geared up - save for the helmet, which was fortunate because now Soobin could clearly look at his face. Yeonjun looked so good in that uniform; the cute and hip side of him gone, replaced by a cool demeanor. Soobin noticed Yeonjun was rather muscular. While other contestants had friends who were also trying out with them, Yeonjun just stood alone in the field but he didn't look any less confident, which was a contrast to their first meeting and the impression Soobin had on Yeonjun. As it turned out, Yeonjun was so out of his league.

"Stop staring. Get ready,"

"Get ready for what?" Soobin looked surprised.

"Dude, you have to try out. It's a perfect excuse to become close with him,"

"Me? Lacrosse?" Soobin eyed Beomgyu who looked unwavering. "I never played the game, not to mention, I don't even know the rules properly,"

"It doesn't matter. You just have to show the coach you have potential,"

"Do I though?"

"Well, not you. Your supernatural side,"

"I am gonna cheat?"

"It's not exactly cheating. You just said it, you have a disadvantage. You never played the game. You didn't come prepared. If you use your power, it's called an even,"

Truthfully, Soobin didn't care about his ways of approaching Yeonjun being ethical. He was simply not confident. Yes, he had somewhat practiced to regulate his supernatural strength with Ryujin last evening, and he believed he had made improvements despite her stating otherwise, but to bring out his wolf side out in the open scared him, specially after yesterday's changing room incident. However, peer pressure and puberty are two strange things. Stupidity was ever familiar and not as strange as the mentioned two, but he wanted to indulge himself in it. Guess, he will never know better as long as he keeps being friends with Beomgyu.

"Let me think," Soobin lied, as he only wanted time to prepare himself by watching how other students are doing it and figure out ways to wing it when he goes down on the field. Beomgyu looked sulky at the response, and turned his vision toward the coach as he explained what he wanted the contestant to do strictly.

The tryout looked fairly direct to comprehend the rules. Coach marked a white spot on the field, from where the players will attempt at flinging the ball into the goalpost using the lacrosse stick. He posted Taehyun as the goalkeeper for the first five contender, then switched to different people at intervals. Soobin has give it to Taehyun, for no one could score a goal when he guarded the net. Thankfully, by the time Ryujin's turn came, it was a different goalie, not that it mattered much, because he watched Ryujin skillfully sending the ball in all three of her given chance. He remembered to take a look at their coach who looked impressed as if he didn't know Ryujin was good. He saw Yeonjun approaching Ryujin to give her a high-five and praise her shortly. Soobin felt a little jealous, but not to worry, it could soon be him in Ryujin's place if he can pull it off and that was all the motivation he needed to actually go through the tryout.

**_Kids of 88 - Just A Little Bit_ **

"Beomgyu?" Soobin called out cockily.

"Uh-huh?"

"Do I get a pair of gears?"

Beomgyu took a second to understand what Soobin had meant, and when he did, his eyes returned back to same glinting form it held couple of minutes ago. He rushed back inside the school building to find if any spare gear component was left at the coach's room or the changing room so that _they can borrow the items for the time being_ , whereas Soobin slowly followed him. Beomgyu came back with a shoulder and arm pad.

"Well, that's all I could find for now,"

"It's not a formal game anyway. We have the essential. We can get Ryujin to lend me a helmet and a stick,"

Soobin and Beomgyu entered the boys' locker room and Beomgyu helped Soobin put on and adjust the protective gears on his body as fast as possible. Soobin stretched his body a bit and headed back to the field with Beomgyu who looked more active than the actual contestant himself. As soon as they moved past the audience bench, they were met with shocked look on Ryujin's face. Before Ryujin could approach them, the coach felt their presence.

"Hey, you two. Don't interrupt," he warned.

"Coach, Soobin wants to join," Beomgyu spoke with a big grin on his face.

"So? What can I do?" he paused and looked straight at Soobin. "What are you waiting for, punk? Go, get in the line," he scolded.

"You, scram," he pointed at Beomgyu. Beomgyu didn't look threatened in the least. "Hey, don't embarrass yourself, alright?" he whispered as if he wasn't the one to present Soobin with this particular idea and paced back toward the bench they were sitting on earlier.

Soobin got to the back of the line where he saw boys who has gotten a little annoyed with his spectacle earlier, granted, it was a little show-off and probably the cockiest thing he has done in his sixteen years of life. Soobin wondered if Yeonjun was in it for his show, and was pleased to find Yeonjun's eyes on him, through the cage of his helmet, now that he wore it, which he diverted away as soon as Soobin met his gaze.

After two people had their turn, Yeonjun stood behind the white line preparing for his attempt. Soobin took a peek at their goalie, he recognizes him as a fellow sophomore, who became popular last year for his friendliness and unexpected athletic ability and made it to the team last season with Ryujin, Jung Sungchan. Soobin had no opposition to the claims, as he saw the previous two people failing to make any goals while Sungchan was in front of the post. However, it was very obvious who he was rooting for and he looked forward to Yeonjun beating the skillful goalie.

Yeonjun still had that confident look on his face, but it didn't look arrogant, rather it was just a positive aura radiating from his posture, an aura of passion. He plucked the ball into the mesh of his stick and formed an aim. He took a deep breath and swung the stick to toss the ball. Soobin was channeling all his attention toward the scene in front of him, waiting anxiously to see how it turns out. He watched how the ball was caught by his classmate unfortunately. Yeonjun didn't look too down. He had two more chances after all and not many people succeeded at making three goals. He caught the ball using his stick as Sungchan tossed it toward him, and proceeded to prepare for his second attempt. He repeated the same action from his preceding attempt with some minor adjustments; one might overlook it if they weren't paying absolute attention, and _oh, was Soobin all for giving that amount of attention_.

Yeonjun had angled the stick a little leftward, higher than last time, probably going for a wide shot this time. Soobin watched as Yeonjun flicked his stick and shot the ball, but not before changing the aim he initially displayed into a even wider shot to the left in an instant. He watched as the ball go past Sungchan and hit the net at the farthest corner. Both Sungchan and coach looked impressed at Yeonjun's success, and Soobin too couldn't hide his grin. Yeonjun, on the other hand, looked more determined as he approached his last shot. He changed his posture completely for the shot, lifting the stick way lower than last time; however, this time he misled Sungchan by directing the ball really high in the last second and the ball hit the net in the high right. The fact that Yeonjun was really agile and accurate in shooting didn't escape Soobin's notice, and he suddenly felt proud of Yeonjun.

Yeonjun took off his helmet and ran his hands through his hair as he tried to push the strands back. Soobin kept staring at him, thinking to himself how good Yeonjun looked at the moment. A few boys including Sungchan came to compliment Yeonjun and he thanked all of them with a beaming face. Soobin wondered if he should approach Yeonjun too, but suppressed the thought as he saw Yeonjun already moving away toward the sideline to make way for the boy next in line and then stand next to Ryujin. He saw Ryujin exchanging words with Yeonjun, probably commenting about his playing style, which he decided, he was not going to eavesdrop on using his supernatural hearing no matter how curious he was. Before he can divert his gaze from them, he caught Ryujin shooting a glare at him. Of course, Ryujin would be mad. She was very strict about the exposure of the supernatural - something she was habituated to have from all those years of her pack constantly warning her to be careful with her every move, something Soobin wasn't used to giving much importance to because he was very new to these aspects surrounding the supernatural and not to mention, he was in the high for gaining such powers.

When there remained two guys in front of him, Soobin gestured toward Ryujin and she came closer to him from the sidelines with the annoyed expression she held previously, now mixed with a little confusion. Soobin pointed toward the stick she was carrying and she got the cue as she proceeded to hand him the essential lacrosse item he was missing.

"This helmet won't fit you," Ryujin said as she examined her helmet. "Wait," She went back and Soobin saw her talking to Yeonjun, and he can't help smirking, seeing how he was unexpectedly presented with the opportunity to start a conversation with Yeonjun later with the excuse of returning his helmet.

"I can't believe you're being this inconsiderate," Ryujin whined as Soobin hunched over toward her so she can put the helmet on him with ease.

"It's okay, Ryujin, we can both make it. Wouldn't it be nice to have your best friend on the team?" Soobin chirped. Ryujin sent him a look before she started to secure the belt of the helmet under his chin.

"You know that's not what I am worried about," She said after she had finished adjusting the helmet. "If you mess up today, forget being best friends, you can just delete my contact on your phone,"

Despite it being apparent that Ryujin was mad, Soobin knew it was an empty threat. "I'll take that as an encouragement to do my best then." Soobin grinned, not giving in to her distressed mood, as he pressed his palms on both side of her shoulders attempting to soothe her anxiety. He side-eyed Yeonjun to find he was watching their interaction intently. Soobin hoped he wouldn't get the wrong impression about their friendship.

By the time his turn came, the goalie was replaced to a fairly smaller guy, who Soobin was very much underestimating for his size and was immensely thankful thinking he had a chance. He caught the ball the keeper directed at him seamlessly, thanks to his supernatural reflex working properly. He thought he should try something to misled the goalkeeper just like Yeonjun did. So, he thought of two aims in his head, one to display and other to actually implement. He kept his posture as if he was going for the area in right middle-height corner, farthest to where the goalie was standing. He wanted to make the goalie think he had to cover more distance when Soobin will shoot, but when he shot, he imitated Yeonjun's tactic sending the ball in a different direction, very close to the part of the net where the goalie was originally guarding. However, as opposed to Soobin's deduction that by the time the ball would reach the post, the goalie would have already reached the right end, unable to come back to former position, the goalie was slow and the ball hit the edge of his helmet with a fierce speed. The ball got deflected but, by some miracle of the universe, it still hit the net somewhere else than intended. However, the goalie wasn't very lucky, as he got knocked back at the impact and fell down on the ground with shock smearing all over his upper body. Soobin felt a little bad, but he was busy celebrating his luck. As he turned his head to find Yeonjun's reaction, he was instead focused at Ryujin's worried expression. Why couldn't his friend be happy for him? He didn't mess up, did he? Was his eyes turning yellow, or was his fangs out? He suddenly felt hyper-aware. However, when he looked at Yeonjun, he only saw how he was simply amazed by Soobin's shot. Soobin subdued his anxiety as he understood none of his body part has transformed, and he still looked every bit of human. However, what he failed to realize was the speed at which he sent the ball was the non-human part about him, that Ryujin was not worried about exposure anymore but the injuries Soobin can cause around him.

Soobin found the coach talking to the goalkeeper who looked like he was hard time recovering from the shock from the collision; despite that, the coach eventually made the goalkeeper go back to his position. Soobin saw how scared the other boy looked, which made him disinterested in putting enough effort to actually block the ball Soobin will shoot at the post, and this made Soobin's job easy. For his second shot, he didn't even go for any special tactics, instead made a traditional underhand shot, pulling the stick back and dragging it forward real fast. As he found himself successful in making the goal, he became conscious of the cheering around him. They were cheering _for him_. As someone who has never went looking these kinds of feeling of rush, anticipation and acclamation, he established that he quite enjoyed the sentiments the situation was providing him.

Soobin saw how the coach was not satisfied with the way Soobin scored a clear-cut goal, and so he made the current goalkeeper step down. Soobin didn't know what to expect. He contemplated that the coach wouldn't eventually select student based on the goals they scored, rather he would want to see if they could pull off essential techniques of the sport, but the score could still serve as a strong prop for them. It made him a little disappointed to think he wasted his second shot doing it the usual way and not being to able to shine enough. However, what his future held was even more disappointing because the goalkeeper who was gonna substitute the former one was walking toward the post and it just had to be Taehyun. He didn't expect Taehyun to go again, but he understood why the coach did it. He wanted to test Soobin properly and no one could guard the net better than Taehyun. From what he remembers about both the regular and in-tournament matches from last season is that, Taehyun was never playing the goalkeeper position, unless the game was not going in their favor and their team needed a change in momentum; and only then he stepped in to substitute for the position. That means, Taehyun only played on the field because he was just better at it, but he was still a better than average goalkeeper. In any case, Soobin was in trouble.

Since Taehyun took some time to prepare himself in his goalkeeper gear, Soobin got some moment to strategize for his third shot. It's not like he knows actual techniques of lacrosse, but he has been watching the players who had their shot before him in the line and he thought he can imitate at least one movement from those who were successful. When Taehyun signaled he was ready, Soobin walked backward to put some distance between him and the drawn white line, and then he came running from his end in zig-zag and propelled his stick forward, except he didn't actually shoot the ball until he changed his aim completely in a different direction to deceive the younger.

While it looked like a good tactic and Taehyun had maneuvered his stick to block the ball from the first direction Soobin had faked the aim, he managed to take notice of the actual destination of ball flying in. With incredible reflex and speed, Taehyun changed his stance and directed his stick in the correct position to catch it. Soobin watched as the ball drifting toward the head of Taehyun's stick, and he let out a disappointed grunt. However, in the next second, he saw how the ball had hit the net behind Taehyun and Soobin had no idea how that happened. He stared at Taehyun who just cluelessly stood there, not moving a bit as people around him cheered for Soobin. When Taehyun brought the stick in front of him to examine how he missed that catch, realization hit both of them as they saw the distinct hole in the mesh of the stick-head resulted from the thread being torn over the point the ball had touched. Taehyun made eye-contact with Soobin and he knew what was going through his mind. _Just how much force did Soobin put into that shot to gain such momentum?_

Taehyun looked almost expressionless, but also angry at the same time. Soobin could feel the subtle glare the former was sending toward him, and to say he was scared would be an understatement because he felt his thinking ability fading away. He distracted himself by thanking the people around him who came to either pat his back or simply convey a congratulation. He found Beomgyu beside him as the boy came down on the field to hug him, but then he heard Ryujin calling him.

"Coach wants you to go again," she stated worriedly.

"Again?" Soobin looked at his coach.

"Again," Coach deadpanned.

"But, coach, why?"

"Because I said so, kid. Just do it,"

The boys surrounding him moved away to let Soobin prepare for the extra shot he was being given. Soobin was confused, scared and a little irritated at the same time. He understood that he had messed up by putting such super-human strength into his shots, resulting suspicions. Now he couldn't think of any way out of this situation. He half-heartedly lifted his stick and decided to go for a similar pattern of shot as his last. Putting more distance than before, he came in jogging, faked a throw and swung the stick in a different direction in the last second. The thing with this shot is even though Taehyun could be anticipating Soobin to go with the technique he used previously but he still couldn't guess where Soobin would be aiming, but that was not where it went wrong. Soobin eyed the trajectory of the ball and saw it heading toward the farthest end of the post boundary, with the slightest chance of making into the net. The universe was not on his side this time, and he took off his helmet feeling dejected as he saw the ball hitting on the metal pole. What he didn't saw was the ball getting rebounded and making its way toward him while he was so distracted that even his supernatural reflex couldn't save him from getting hit on the head.

When he fell on the ground on his back and felt his vision blurring, he thought to himself. _Damn this speedy throws, and damn this sport._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's funny how I wrote about lacrosse game without ever watching a single game of lacrosse or knowing proper rules, except for those lacrosse scenes in Teen Wolf. I apologize if I got anything wrong in the sport-related scenes.


	10. Secret about Steroids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin is faced with a dilemma as the night of the full moon approaches.

"You're awake," Beomgyu's voice boomed in as Soobin flapped his eyelids trying to take in the scenery around him. "Oh, Ryujin told me to tell you that this is your karma for cheating,"

"Where am I?" Soobin sounded raspy. He saw white curtains hanging besides him, no, beside the bed he was laying on. It's the infirmary. Of course, he had injured himself.

"Definitely not on the lacrosse team,"

Soobin felt too exhausted to give Beomgyu a reaction for his cheeky comment. He simply got up and rubbed over his temple. He took the water bottle from his bedside table and swallowed down gulps of water. Beomgyu just watched him intently.

It's been a long day for Soobin. He didn't have any brainpower left to ponder about the spectacle he left on the lacrosse field. He let out an exhale.

"I want to go home," he stated. He wanted to ask about what happened after he left, but he thought his friend will fill him in on his way home anyway.

"Okay. Let me just get some stuffs from my locker," Beomgyu stood up from where he was sitting on the bed and left.

Soobin found he was already stripped off the protective gear he was wearing, along with the full-sleeve t-shirt, leaving him with only the cotton undershirt. When he got out from bed, he was still feeling a little dizzy. He collected his things and headed outside the room.

He heard some footsteps coming in from behind him, but before he can turn around and check, he was already being pressed on the wall with a body standing in front of him extending an arm on the side to block out his right.

"What the hell was that, Choi?" Taehyun demanded. Soobin simply raised an eyebrow, trying to find an answer.

"Don't try to act dumb. The speed at which you were sending in the ball wasn't like you at all. I've seen you in P.E. There's no way you could be doing that without the help of some sort of chemical boost,"

"What?!" Soobin tried to brush him off.

"Are you taking steroids?"

"Are you?"

Taehyun slammed his hand on the wall again and retracted it a few second later, looking away from Soobin in an attempt to collect himself.

"You think you're funny. Don't you, Choi?" He cocked his head to the side, returning his gaze on the taller.

"Uhm, guys, is everything okay?" Soobin and Taehyun looked at the source of the voice. Yeonjun was standing at the corner of an intersection of the hallway, looking concerned. Soobin felt Taehyun's figure backing away from him.

"Oh, yeah, Yeonjun. I was just asking Soobin if he recovered, you know, from to the injury," Taehyun smiled.

"Oh, and have you?" Yeonjun stared at Soobin.

"Yeah, I am alright now. Just need a little rest," Soobin assured him.

"Okay, be well." Yeonjun smiled, but didn't go away as if he was skeptical about the answers given to him.

Soobin nodded toward Yeonjun and found Taehyun speaking in a low voice as he looked straight into Soobin's eyes. "I know you are hiding something, Choi. And I am gonna find out what it is,"

When Taehyun simply started walking away, Soobin saw Yeonjun leaving too. He noticed Taehyun stopping in his track to look at somewhere and he followed his line of sight to find Ryujin and Beomgyu awkwardly standing behind the corner of another intersection of hallway exactly opposite to Yeonjun's. Taehyun decided to ignore them eventually and went on his way. His friends came out from the spot and made their way toward Soobin.

Ryujin made a gesture. _What was that all about._

Soobin shrugged.

"Dude, Ryujin heard him threatening you,"

Of course, she did. She had a supernatural hearing too.

"Yeah, it was weird," Soobin pulled the corner of his lips down.

"Uh-huh. I have seen him mad before, but not mad at a specific person or getting violent," Ryujin commented.

"Yeah, you know. Soobin has that effect on people," Beomgyu snickered.

"Oh shut up,"

"But, hey, you got all the attention you wanted. Don't think we didn't see Yeonjun there," Beomgyu pointed.

"Yeah, he would have almost carried you to infirmary if coach didn't hold us for testing more stunts for tryouts," Ryujin added.

"I had to carry you and please note that I am not supernatural like you guys. I should be the one getting violent here,"

"Oh yeah, must be hard to live with your raging hormones," Ryujin scoffed.

Soobin was so thankful that his friends were having their usual banters, and not lecturing him about how stupid and cocky he was previously just to impress his crush or how he should be careful about his details now that he is living a different life. He didn't want a different life. He liked the one he had, even if it would he would mean having even lesser chance with Yeonjun. It would still be better than meeting the ever-so-mysterious Seongwoo, or keeping alert about his transformation, or running from hunters, or having the class president onto him and his secrets.

**_The 1975 - Fallingforyou_ **

The night shift at the animal clinic was almost idle today. Seungyoon had left after the last appointment at seven, and there was no one scheduled to pick up their pet for the rest of the night. There was only a few dogs and two cats staying overnight whom Soobin had already fed and given their respective medicines. He pulled out the book he was assigned to read for his English class and planned to read it for the rest of his shift, probably accompanied with a snack he brought with him and some slow music on his headphone.

Soobin got startled from the loud sound of car engine, followed by a person most likely wailing just outside the building. He took out the earphone from his ears and headed toward the entrance to find a boy coming near from the other side. He opened the door to discover a panicked and crying Yeonjun drenched in the rain.

"I didn't see it. I left my eyes on the road for two seconds to..." Soobin couldn't make out most of Yeonjun's words. "and then this dog came out of nowhere,"

"It's alright," Soobin kept repeating to assure him. Soobin calmly asked, "Do you know where it happened so I can send the animal control to find it?" 

"No! I mean yes, I know where I hit it, but the dog is,"

"Where is it?"

"It's in my car,"

Soobin followed Yeonjun to the back of his car. Yeonjun opened the trunk to reveal a husky laying down folding itself in. It barked harshly and snarled at Yeonjun when he tried to approach it. He appeared disheartened.

"It's just frightened," Soobin informed him. "Let me see if I have any better luck,"

Soobin bent down and leaned toward the poor animal and held eye-contact trying to convey that he didn't mean any harm and just wanted to help. He was grateful to find the dog whimpering, putting the snarl expression off its face. What he didn't understand was how his eyes changing color for a moment before turning back to normal had influenced the canine to be compliant. He picked the dog up and carried it inside the building with Yeonjun trailing behind him, calmer than before.

"I think her leg is broken," Soobin stated as he examined the dog after having her placed on the table. "I have seen the doctor do plenty of splints. I can do it myself and give her painkiller for now,"

Soobin noticed Yeonjun wrapping his arms around his chest. He was clearly cold from the rain-soaked clothes.

"Oh, I have a shirt here,"

"Uh, I don't wanna trouble you,"

"Here," Soobin handed him a spare t-shirt that he keeps in the vet. Yeonjun accepted the material, not protesting this time, and went behind the door to the other room to change, totally unaware of the transparent glass in the center of the door which didn't really give him the privacy he was hoping for.

Soobin traced the muscle on Yeonjun's visible back and his perfect waist with his eyes as the latter took off his wet shirt. He heard a low whine coming from the husky laying in front of him and turned away to face the dog. He found the dog looking at him with accusatory gaze.

"What? I didn't see anything," he whispered to the animal and put on a pout. He stood up to gather the equipment needed to apply the splint.

When Soobin had just finished wrapping bandage around the injured limb along with the splint placed under it, Yeonjun came back dressed in Soobin's t-shirt which looked oversized on him, and thanked the other. They watched the dog for a while who had already relaxed and closed her eyes.

"Huh, I feel really stupid. I am not really the type of guy to freak out like that," Yeonjun sighed and smiled bitterly.

"Well, what kind of guy are you?" Soobin asked softly.

"Tougher than that. At least, I thought I was,"

"Hey, if I was in your place, I'd be freaked out too. In fact, I would probably cry. It would be pathetic,"

Yeonjun gave a small laugh and eventually formed a smile. Soobin thought about how nice it sounded. They stayed silent for a moment, just like that.

"So, looks like she is gonna live, and I'm pretty sure she'll let you pet her now, if you want," Soobin nodded toward the husky.

Yeonjun looked doubtful at first, but then he proceeded to run his hand delicately through her furs and the environment around him diffused into an calming aura as his smile broadened.

"See she likes you," Soobin alluded.

Yeonjun looked to his side to find Soobin's unwavering gaze on his face.

"What?"

"Oh, sorry," Soobin looked away. "You have an eye-lash on your cheek,"

"Yeah, could be from all of the crying," Yeonjun put on a bashful smile. He wiped his face at an attempt to get rid of the fallen eye-lash. Seeing Yeonjun being unsuccessful at the job, Soobin extended his fingers on Yeonjun's cheek and tenderly removed the substance, while looking at the way Yeonjun stared breathlessly at him, and the way his lips quirked upwards together with his glimmering eyes afterwards.

"Thanks," Yeonjun offered the other a pleased smile.

Soobin saw the former looking around the vet and let him roam around the building where there was no one except them. They didn't talk for a while and let a comfortable silence fall upon them. When Yeonjun had returned to the same room he was standing with Soobin earlier, Soobin thought Yeonjun looked like he had something on his mind. He gestured an encouraging look toward the shorter.

"You have heard of the party Yeri is having tomorrow?" Yeonjun asked.

Soobin's thought busied itself trying to strike whether he had heard such a thing. It must be the party Yeri had invited Yeonjun to on his first day. He also remembered, Ryujin _was complaning_ about not being able to attend a particularly important party this week, for the day of the event coinciding with the coming full-moon and Beomgyu was teasing her all about missing _all the fun_ he will be having there without her. He realized he didn't get any invitation for the said party as opposed to his friends and made a mental note to ask his friend why they never extended the invite to him. Actually, scratch that. He knows why. He would have refused to go anyway.

"Yeah, I have heard of it," Soobin plainly answered. Wait, was Yeonjun about to imply that he should _accompany him_ to the crazily pompous occasion that was one of many and the others to come in the series of Yeri's parties? To top that, it was scheduled on _his first full moon_?

"Do you think, maybe you would like to go that party with me?" Yeonjun threw the expected question in.

"Yes, I'd love to," Soobin said taking no time, and without any hint of hesitance in his voice.

"Okay," Yeonjun beamed.

"Uhm, it's getting late. I have to get home. Thanks again, for all these," he started to collect his things as he prepared to leave. "I will see you in school tomorrow. Oh, and your head, is it alright?"

"Yeah, fine," Soobin's dimples became prominent as he smiled at the other.

"You...Did...What?"

"I am sorry, Ryujin," Soobin stood with a rueful look on his face holding the tray and waiting for Ryujin to sit down first and ease the scowl on her face. Upon understanding that whatever he awaited for is not going to be happening any time soon, he sat down opposite to her. Beomgyu joined him after a minute.

"Beomgyu, did I not remind Soobin about the coming full moon?" Ryujin turned toward Beomgyu, to which he nodded and then slightly snickered.

"Perhaps, I forgot to mention the exact date?" Ryujin asked. Beomgyu shook his head no.

"Then, can you believe he said yes to going to a party with Yeonjun on that night?"

"I can," Beomgyu said, taking a bite of his food. "Soobin was already stupid. Now, he is in love,"

Soobin smacked Beomgyu on the arms as a form of protest which meant I-am-not-in-love, and maybe for calling him stupid too.

"I am telling you, I will talk to him again and say I can't go. Okay?" Soobin complied, in regard to the dramatic responses from Ryujin. He would probably have to make up an excuse using his job at the vet to Yeonjun, even though he already took the shift off due to his werewolf issue.

"You better," Ryujin finally returned to her usual demeanor.

Some time had passed before she glanced at the boys in front of her and clasped her hands. "So, plans for today's evening,"

Soobin looked up from his food and Beomgyu simply hummed to show they were listening to Ryujin's strategy of handling Soobin's transformation during the full moon tonight.

"I hope you rested well yesterday after we left," She turned toward Beomgyu.

"Well, I am feeling pretty okay right now. After school though? I don't know. But I am sure, seeing people in party will perk me up," Beomgyu spoke casually.

" _Beomgyu, you are not going to the party._ You have to take care of Soobin," Ryujin asserted.

"What? Why?" Beomgyu exclaimed. He had been thinking the burden was lifted off him due to Ryujin's arrival.

"Well, my family will not let me out once I get home in the afternoon, and I do have to take care of myself during the full moon. So, it only leaves you to help Soobin out," Ryujin spoke as if Soobin was not here. It reminded him of those working parents discussing whose turn it is to take care of their toddler for a particular day.

"Why can't he stay with your family?"

 _Good question_ , Soobin thought.

"I decided not to tell my pack about Soobin for now, unless anything big comes up,"

Soobin knew that was a superficial answer, and he made a note to extract the real psychology of Ryujin behind hiding away the fact he was a werewolf from the Shin pack, in the future.

"This.Is.Big,"

"We can handle this ourselves,"

"Not without sacrificing my attendance at the party,"

"Would you chill? This isn't the last party Yeri will be throwing,"

"You're one evil human...werewolf..." Beomgyu brought his arm up in front of him and clenched his fist as a not-very-convincing display of his frustration. "whatever. You're evil, Ryujin,"

"I don't know why you were under the impression that you're going,"

"Why couldn't you tell me when I was excitedly talking about going to the party?"

"Sorry," Ryujin gave a puckish smile. "I guess I am a little evil,"

Yeonjun walked through the parking lot and slipped between the line of vehicles. If he hadn't lost his headphones yet, it should be inside his car and that's where he was headed. There were barely any people outside the school building right now, except for the sports field where he saw a bunch of boys half-lying under today's saturated sunlight and the nearing-autumn winds. The sound of the group talking among themselves became muffled as he opened the driver side door to his car and got his upper body inside to search for his headphone. _Ah, there it is._ He picked up the fallen piece of technology at the foot of the passenger seat and his mood started lifting itself. He was tired of buying new ones. There was some kind of fun in making a record in using even the small things for a long time, it gives him a sense of familiarity, possessiveness and persistency in his life that has reduced into a series of fleeting moments, or at least, he started believing so.

Yeonjun closed the car door with the headphone in his hand and a few books he was already carrying when he got there. He looked to the front to be met with a tall man with greenish-brown hair in leather jacket, making Yeonjun jolt in his place.

"Sorry to scare you like that," The man smiled and spoke with a suave undertone. "I am looking for my friend. He is in sophomore class,"

"Well, uh, I am a sophomore, but I am new here. So, I don't know everyone." Yeonjun reluctantly answered the man blocking his way.

"His name is Choi Soobin," _Oh, Soobin_. The man who claimed to be Soobin's friend appeared to be polite. He contemplated that he could go in with the excuse of finding Soobin and ask him if he knows- wait, the man hasn't given Yeonjun a name. He was about to ask for his identity when Soobin suddenly appeared, invading the small space between the cars and grabbed Yeonjun's wrist.

"Get away from him, Seungwoo," Soobin threatened. The man, whose name was assumedly Seungwoo, backed away as Soobin pulled Yeonjun away from the scene. 

Soobin can't believe Seungwoo made it to his school premises. He thought he could let down his caution against the older a little during school at least, where he would be surrounded by a crowd of people. Moreover, the fact Seungwoo could approach Yeonjun out of the blue didn't really make it into his primary consideration. But here he was, dealing with Seungwoo when things are already not peaceful inside his mind due to oncoming event tonight. Soobin towed Yeonjun all the way toward the school building. They stood in front of the outdoor fields.

"What's going on, Soobin? He said he was your friend," Yeonjun voiced his unsettlement.

" _He is not my friend_ ," Soobin answered, piqued. He didn't say anything further and just put on an scowl on his face. He kept appearing agitated while staring at the area Yeonjun was standing earlier. Yeonjun followed his line of sight and saw Seungwoo still standing there with a stern expression on his face. When Seungwoo noticed Yeonjun's eyes on himself, he gave a smirk and turned around to start walking away.

 _Tonight's a full moon. I hope you're prepared._ Soobin heard the werewolf say. Wow, is that the only reason Seungwoo is here? Just to tell him that? Was that a provocation? Is he rejoicing the fact that he didn't have to do anything- that Soobin would get his karma by messing things by himself? Or was it simply a heads-up? A warning, because he still has some use for Soobin? 

Of course, Yeonjun couldn't see Seungwoo talking or hear his inaudible words that was only meant for Soobin to pick up. After directing an amicable, but questioning look towards Soobin for a while, Yeonjun yanked away his arm from the other's grip. He didn't want to deal with this strange business concerning Soobin anymore, if the boy wasn't willing to talk to him and just going to keep looking somewhere far away.

"Uh whatever," Yeonjun exhaled and turned away. When he started to walk, he heard Soobin call out his name. He quickly said as he walked backward facing Soobin, "It's cool, Soobin. It's none of my business. I gotta go to class," 

_Ugh._ Soobin thought to himself. _What did he do? He messed up._ He rendered Yeonjun into a bad mood while dealing with Seungwoo paranoidly and now he failed to bring up the party matter. There's no way he can tell Yeonjun about bailing before the latter gets over this incident and stays in a conciliatory state. He planned to talk to Yeonjun after waiting till the end of the school day.

Soobin saw Beomgyu seated in the back as soon as he entered the class. He walked between isle of desk to reach the seat in front of Beomgyu's.

"So, talked to Yeonjun yet?" Beomgyu inquired as he placed a pencil behind his ear.

"Didn't get a chance," Soobin answered. It _was_ partially true. Soobin saw Jihoon sitting diagonally to him, which he found strange since he usually took a front seat like most academically good student would. Perhaps, Jihoon was feeling a little sloppy today and decided to join Soobin in solidarity of staying pre-occupied with mathematic-unrelated thoughts the entire class.

Much to Soobin's dismay, he was called to the board, along with Jihoon. Soobin was zoned out the whole time and there was no way he could find out how many centimeter was the value of x in the diagram drawn on the board. All he recognized was a bunch of triangles who love each other so much that they stick together.

"I heard Yeonjun asked you to come with him to tonight's party." Jihoon spoke quietly as he wrote on the board. So, he actually sat close to Soobin earlier so he could find an opportunity to talk about party affairs. Soobin sighed. He had only agreed to attend for Yeonjun's sake and now he was having to deal with his popular friends.

"Uh, yeah," Soobin didn't want to talk while being distressed about trigonometry.

"Why do you sound like you have no interest in going?"

"I just think, I won't be able to make it,"

"Oh, that's...sad," Jihoon paused and concentrated on solving the question on the board. _Gosh, how and why was he showing fake sympathy to someone, whom he claimed he didn't know during lunch just some days ago, all the while writing formulas and calculating numbers?_ It made Soobin feel more annoyed but he couldn't properly let out his feelings since, in contrast to what Jihoon was saying, his tone wasn't particularly condescending.

"I talked to Yeonjun just before this class. I assume, he doesn't know yet?"

"I'll tell him when I see him," Soobin glanced at Jihoon and answered impassively.

"Well, in that case, you might wanna reconsider. You should know Yeri has _a list of people_ she wants Yeonjun to get along with. If you don't go, it doesn't matter how interested he is in you, there's a big chance he _will_ end up having a good time with _at least one_ of Yeri's people," Jihoon said in sing-song tone as much as he can in a hushed voice, while he filled the board with equations and apparently achieved the value of his X.

Mr. Kim checked Jihoon's solution. Meanwhile, Soobin stood with half-impressed, half-disturbed expression on his face.

"Then again, it's your call," Jihoon remarked after the teacher had declared his solution as correct and turned to walk to his seat. Soobin simply rolled his eyes.

"Choi, you are not even _close_ to solving your problem," Kibum remarked.

"Tell me about it," Soobin muttered under his breath.

As soon as the school bell rang for the last time that day, whose sound didn't bother Soobin anymore now that he could focus in and out of his heightened hearing, he bolted out of the building. He is not going to go through his idea on talking to Yeonjun about cancelling the evening plans, that he had arranged with him last night, anymore. He is going to follow a third option, which included both going to the party - or date? - for a short time and staying chained during the rest of the night in his room as per Ryujin's wish. He had to make it work. Soobin doesn't know if Jihoon told him all those things to help him or taunt him. But he absolutely cannot let Yeonjun attend the party by himself where he will be surrounded by his friends who will give him away to people who are definitely wishing to be more than friends with him. _That was not an option._

It was notably good that Yeonjun hasn't wiggled out from the date, or at least Soobin was hoping it to be, with him after the incident with Seungwoo; apparent from the fact that Yeonjun had sent him a text with Yeri's address saying he will directly meet him there. Soobin is just going to let his friends assume he had done as he was told about the party issue, and therefore came the need for bolting.

"My father's treating you alright?" The voice of Yeonjun's cousin brother rolled in from the other end of the call.

"Uncle is...just uncle. He's fine. He's nice enough to drive me to places these days," Yeonjun spoke casually.

"That's just him being overprotective," His brother pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess, that's just a general thing running in our family,"

"Including me?"

"No, not including you. You're good," Yeonjun smiled, even though he knew his brother wouldn't be able to see his face at the time.

"Uh-huh?" The cheeriness was apparent from his brother's tone.

"Yeah, you tell me about the good places to visit when I move somewhere new. Our hangouts are fun. And you cover for me to mom every time you visit," Yeonjun didn't care how cheesy he sounded. He needed to let the other know how much he appreciates his presence.

There were never a moment he didn't brighten up upon the sight of his brother, no matter how deep he was in the sphere of his negative feelings. He knows he won't be able to explain it to other people, because he viewed other people as individuals living a far normal life than he is. He acknowledges the fact there could be people living worse off than he is and that's likely the reason he doesn't complain. He cannot deny the fact he was privileged in many aspects. But was he truly happy? Can one be happy if he cannot relate to the people in the surrounding? Or if he got no one to remember him as more than just _'that reserved newcomer'_? In this situation, how could he not be close to his brother, the only person who can start a conversation with _'remember when-'_?

"I really am the best brother there is, huh?"

"Well..."

"What?"

"I have not seen you for nearly five months now, big brother. Now I am living in your town, your home. And you're not here,"

Weirdly enough, this is the first time Yeonjun felt a teensy-weensy bit of excitement to be moving. However, he wasn't currently getting what he had hoped for, in his residence. _In school though? Hmm, it's too early to make that conclusion_. He has to know how tonight will go, particularly with the black-haired boy he asked out.

"I am sorry, Yeonjun," His brother affectionately apologized.

"I am holding myself out from going to the good places because I want to visit them with you first,"

"Aww, Yeonjun. You know what? I will try to finish my business here as fast as I can, and I will come back to Beacon Hills, okay? Wait for me a little more. I am missing you too,"

"Okay," Yeonjun slightly chirped. He casually walked around his room. "Uh, I am going to a party this evening. So, I will have to go,"

"Party?" The other voice paused. He spoke again with a hint of concern. "Will you be coming home late?"

"Well, not if I don't attend till the end," Who knows if Yeonjun can lose the 'reserved' part from his title and just be a newcomer?

"Okay. Be careful,"

"Of what exactly?" Yeonjun halted in his steps and chuckled. There was no end to the amount of times he has heard that line from his family this week. His mother made a fuss last night about him coming home late and was almost refraining him from attending the party tonight.

"Huh? Oh, just, you know. Dad told me about the recent animal attacks. So, just make sure you are in a crowd and not by yourself somewhere," His brother recommended.

"Okay, big brother," Yeonjun disconnected the call. He looked around the room and the package his brother sent came to his spotlight. _Ah, shoot._ He saw how the covering was half-way torn due to the fact he forgot to properly unbox it when both he and his brother got carried away in talking about other things. He gave himself a reminder to call his brother later to talk about the gift and thank him for it. 

Yeonjun brought out the material inside the slip sheet casing and it turned out to be a small-sized fancy picture frame. He flipped the frame to reveal a photo of him and his brother from the time they went on outing last December, nearing his brother's birthday and also the new year's eve. A grin spread across Yeonjun's face, remembering about the life event and seeing the Christmas decorations that hung in the background of the photo. He took the photo out seeing it was not properly placed in the frame and a trace of black ink at the back of the photo came to his attention. It said:

_Hey there Yeonjun-ah,_

Don't miss your lovely brother too much.

\- **Kim Taehyung**


	11. Blue Neighborhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beomgyu has a hard time because of Soobin's plan of gaining the best of both worlds.

Beomgyu knew better than to walk inside Soobin's house through the front door, carrying a cloth bag full of metal chains. He felt like he had already exhausted his daily allocated quota for lying on account of borrowing these chains and now he would rather not face Soobin's elder brother. He plans to hide in Soobin's room for enough time until Seokjin leaves for night shift at the hospital. However, his plan was continuously getting delayed because of Soobin not picking up his phone; leaving Beomgyu there to stand impatiently at the back of his friend's house. When much time has passed since he has been waiting, as to creating a possibility of someone confusing him for a burglar, he thought he might as well do something a burglar would. He stood in front of one of the windows in Soobin's dark room, which he deduced as either Soobin being in some other room in the house or that he was probably sleeping, because what else could explain the lights being off in the room. _There was no way Soobin wasn't home, was there?_

Beomgyu tried to lift the window sash of the one he was facing, and it happened to be unlocked. He moved the pane all the way up and threw the bag inside. The bag fell on the floor with a jiggling sound that, Beomgyu prayed Seokjin wouldn't hear, or ignore it even if he heard it. He jumped through the window frame and got inside to find the door of Soobin's room open. A figure stood there and came rushing toward him. The baseball bat they were holding came to his attention before he could make out their face and he reflexively screamed on the top of his lungs. The sound came out louder since the other party had joined him in screaming too. At this point, he recognized the male holding the bat to be none other than Seokjin. It made sense, after all, he owns this home.

"Beomgyu, what the hell are you doing here?" Seokjin yelled as his panic started to subside.

"What am I doing?" Beomgyu yawped. "God, why do you guys even keep that bat when neither of you play baseball?" 

"Why can't you use the front door?"

"Uh, the front door was locked," Beomgyu spoke sheepishly.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Seokjin posed. He sighed exaggeratedly and turned on the dim light outside the room. It seems the purpose of keeping the front door locked had already been defeated as an intruder, even if it's just his younger brother's best friend, has already made his way inside the house. Not only that, he brought a bag full of something metallic from the sound Seokjin had heard, the very sound which has prompted him to check the room, interrupting him when he was just about to leave the house.

"This isn't anything weird," Beomgyu said upon noticing Seokjin's gaze on his bag. "We are, uh, cleaning our garage and this is just some junk I have to throw away,"

Seokjin raised one eyebrow, but decided to let it go. There was no use in questioning Beomgyu's antics, or even the shenanigans his brother pulls off with this fella. It's probably something stupid, and most likely harmless. Besides, he will be getting late for his shift at the hospital.

"Well, I will have to leave for my work. So," Seokjin stated, then paused before saying. "I thought you'd be at the party,"

"I am not going," Beomgyu immediately answered and then consciously thought about what Seokjin said. "Wait, how do you know about it?"

"Isn't that where Soobin would be? With his date Yeonjun?" Soobin borrowed Seokjin's car today specifically for that purpose and he hoped his brother hadn't lied to him about the matter.

"Oh, right. Yeonjun...Date," Beomgyu connected the dots in his mind and pretended to appear non-chalant about the matter in front of Seokjin. _Screw you, Soobin._ _Why did you have to make the evening harder than it would have been?_ It seems like peace was never an option ever since Soobin had become a werewolf. 

"Uh, sorry, big brother. It totally slipped my mind,"

"Okay, then let's get you out," Seokjin sounded hasty, just wanting to lock up before leaving.

Beomgyu's eyes fell on a cabinet and the post-it note glued over it, which Seokjin seemed to have missed. He started to dust himself off, in order to annoy the already impatient doctor in front of him and then gestured about pulling the window sash down. As Beomgyu struggled with the window, Seokjin couldn't take it anymore, and he left first signaling that he will be waiting at the front door. Beomgyu quickly lowered the window pane and then walked around the room to pluck the note from its place.

"Have a good evening, big brother Jin" Beomgyu spoke genially, once they were outside.

"You too, Beomgyu,"

Beomgyu stared in confusion as he saw Seokjin walking away and not bringing his car out. _Has Soobin taken the car with him? Is that why he actually went home without talking to him or Ryujin? So, he could get ready and go to the party before he gets caught by his friends?_

He brought out the note that he stuffed in his pocket earlier and read what was written.

**_Sorry Beomgyu. I'll be back before 8, I promise._ **

Soobin got out of his car and walked toward the huge residence which was being very obvious about it being a party venue. Lights of different color and intensity was seeping through the glass walls of the house, along with the sound and cheers inside them. He could see some people being in the front yard, mostly waiting for their friends to show up and some of them were even smoking. He spotted someone with reddish-brown hair standing in a distance, opposite to the property and talking on their phone before crossing the street. As Soobin neared the boy, his hunch about him being the person Soobin was looking for came out to be true.

"Yes, mom. I will be careful," He heard Yeonjun speak over his phone. 

Yeonjun was wearing a black high-waisted pant and a red short, lightweight jacket having golden sleeves with a white t-shirt underneath. Soobin obviously didn't expect Yeonjun to look any less gorgeous this evening, but he was still blown away at how good he looked in his fit. 

"Yeah, I will try to come home as early I can," 

After a few 'hmm' and 'okay', Yeonjun finally ended his phone conversation and turned toward Soobin. Yeonjun saw him wearing a black hoodie jacket on top of an orange t-shirt and brown pants. His hair was parted to the side, exposing his forehead - a hairstyle Yeonjun didn't expect see Soobin in.

"I feel underdressed," Soobin remarked playfully. Yeonjun laughed.

"Well, don't. You're okay. You look fine," Yeonjun assured. "See, you are the type of guy who looks good even in just plain t-shirt and coat. So, this is fine,"

Soobin didn't care if, on the other side of the compliment, Yeonjun wasn't really praising his fashion sense, because Yeonjun thought Soobin was handsome anyway.

They crossed the road in front of them and made their way inside the house. The house appeared to be a three-storey luxury designed building with neon decorations and pendant fairy lights across the place. Foods and drinks were arranged on a table in one side of the room, along with some on the kitchen counter. It seemed like most of the people in this floor were on the extensive backyard encompassing a small-scale pool, as Soobin observed through the glass walls, occasionally coming inside to get something to eat or rest under the roof while trying to get away from the music. Yeonjun kept looking around to catch any of his friends who could fill him in, particularly if there was something he needed to know about this party or this house that he was not very familiar with. He didn't want to leave a bad impression on people such as his friends by messing up ignorantly, for they didn't look like people he should be messing with, to keep a chill image in the school. But then again, it's not like he invited himself here, they were the one who insisted him to join their friend group.

"Yeonjun, I have to confess something," Soobin softly tugged Yeonjun's sleeves, not sure if he was supposed to go for the other's wrist. Yeonjun stopped in his tracks and turned toward the taller.

"This early? You are not even drunk," Yeonjun teased, because of the way Soobin phrased it.

"I won't be drinking," Soobin spoke coolly.

"Yeah, me neither," Yeonjun tied in, and flaked off his playful expression before asking, "What is it?"

"Well, I actually can't stay long," Soobin spoke in a slightly apologetic voice.

"You have some other plan?" Yeonjun sounded a bit down.

"No, I have a curfew,"

"Well, how long can you stay?"

"Seven thirty-ish?" Soobin scrunched his face as he revealed the information and searched if there were any degree of dejected expression on Yeonjun's face.

But Yeonjun simply laughed. "Are you sure your guardians aren't grounding you?" 

"Yeah, that's actually it. I'm grounded," Soobin didn't have to find a better excuse himself.

"Aww, Soobin. You didn't have to say yes to me then,"

"No-no. I wanted to come,"

"Okay. In that case, make sure to take me with you when you flee,"

"Oh, why? You can stay longer and have fun,"

"Well, _it won't be fun_ because my friends will be asking if I got ditched. Besides, I got something close to curfew myself," Yeonjun explained. He didn't look like he was upset about the matter, but Soobin couldn't help feeling a little guilty about not properly fulfilling his side of their plans in enjoying the party together. 

Noticing the mood could be getting down, Yeonjun joked, "I am not grounded though,"

Soobin smiled. "Okay, we will leave together around seventy-thirty,"

They looked ahead and found Yeri walking towards them with a big grin on her face. Soobin thought she looked nothing less than an internet celebrity and he felt like he was truly underdressed.

"Yeonjun, you're here!" Yeri settled herself near Yeonjun after he bended down to hug her.

"Hey, Soobin," She said, eyeing Soobin.

"Hi," Soobin simply said, feigning a smile.

Just before enough time could pass for them to become awkward, since Yeri was staring off into some distance and not saying anything, Wonjin walked by in front of the three.

"Hey, Wonjin," Yeri called out.

"What?" Wonjin spoke casually. Soobin guessed he must be the only one at the party who exaggerated the way Yeri presented herself and he internally marked this as the starting of the out-of-place feeling that he knew would be coming. No, he is going to focus on just Yeonjun in the short time he will be here in the party. He absolutely cannot afford to panic, as panic was already bad even when it wasn't a full-moon.

"Yeosang's here?" Yeri pointed to a brown-haired guy in the backyard.

"Yeah, actually, he was already back from the trip two days ago,"

"And he didn't call any of us?"

"Said he was busy," 

"With Wooyoung?"

"What else?" Wonjin scoffed indifferently.

"Well, I don't see Wooyoung,"

"Yeah, apparently he still hasn't recovered from San's leaving town yet," Wonjin smirked.

"Oh, what the hell," Yeri rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Yeonjun. That's Yeosang. As you heard, Wooyoung couldn't make it. Make sure you say hi to him before this party ends, okay?"

Yeonjun looked at the direction Yeri was pointing and then nodded at her with a friendly smile on his face. Wonjin left as soon as he was not needed here anymore.

"Have fun," Yeri said, and then remembered to add, "With your date,"

Yeri gave an almost forced smiled at Soobin and left him alone with Yeonjun.

_**Sabrina Carpenter - Almost Love** _

"So this is a date?" A coy smile appeared on Soobin's face.

"Why? You were expecting otherwise?"

"Only if it was April first,"

Soobin smiled at the sight of Yeonjun chuckling. They cut through the crowd and settled at the backyard.

"So, tell me, what did you do to get grounded?" Yeonjun said with an amused smile on his face. Soobin hoped he wouldn't exhaust his quota for lying in telling a fake, somewhat interesting story.

Jihoon stood at one corner of the third floor, brushing his body against the balcony glass railings while placing his hands on top of them. He probably looked like a wallflower right now, from the way he was just standing there and watching other people dance while sipping his drink. The people who were on the deck with him were those who wanted get a little away from the central atmosphere of the party, but not for the same reason as Jihoon, seeing as majority had someone with them who had the same glinting eyes as their partner. It would be a matter of time before one of the couples started making out followed by others at some point of the night. Jihoon hopes he can fit his moments of peace within the limited time he's got till then.

It was already peaceful not having to spot the certain captain of the lacrosse team in between the rounds he had made downstairs to refill his cup or to gossip with any of his friends who were available at the moment. The sheer fact that he didn't have to do anything in getting rid of Choi San who deliberately left because this town was probably getting him bored, felt incredible to him. _Fucking finally._

Even though he didn't get to see Wooyoung afterward because he was still _clinging to the memories of his ex-boyfriend_ , even with this horribly loud music that can be heard from so far away and _telling his friends to turn it down a little bit would offend them_ because they can care less about how this little thing could be injurious to his health, even with the discomfort that was searing through his chest from the swipe of every beat that was leaving through that loud-speaker in ground floor, and even though he was cursing himself for still attending these _goddamn parties to keep a social circle_ , the absence of Choi San was something, _or wryly the only thing_ , to be rejoicing about. Jihoon breathed in the slight cold evening air and blew out slowly, before he shifted his gaze from the people below to look at the full moon peeking behind the tall building in the distant.

"You can dance," Soobin remarked. He has been spectating Yeonjun, for the last few minutes, who was lost in the mood of the music while swinging his hips, occasionally grooving and throwing some subtle body waves in between, while Soobin was simply swaying and trying to keep up with the rhythm. When Soobin was not too absorbed in feeling awkward about his body movement, he could see how Yeonjun had his lips parted and sometime flashed a coy smile as he danced. 

Yeonjun had his arms raised a little. He used one of his hand to brush through his hair, and then stretched the other behind his head enticingly. With slow, asynchronous movement, he brought them back around, lightly touching himself over the neck. "Well, when you can't have constant friends, you gotta at least have some hobbies," 

"Hmm?" An amused smile dangled at the corner of Soobin's lips. "You are doing it so naturally,"

"I guess I have a bit of talent," Yeonjun tilted his head and looked into Soobin's eyes. "and if it was not our first date and if I didn't have to meet these people ever again, I could dare to go a little wild on the floor," 

"Well, I will still look forward to it,"

"And maybe I could show you something else in the future," Yeonjun's voice was coated with almost sultriness.

"That is implying a lot of things in my head," Soobin looked away and chuckled.

"Well, I like my guys imaginative,"

"You can flirt too," Soobin smiled at the sight of confidence radiating from Yeonjun, shining under the blue-hued reflection of the pool close to where they were dancing.

"Not really," Yeonjun grinned. "Just tonight,"

"Yeah?" Soobin felt like he would be allowed to engage a bit more than he was doing now. So, he moved closer and lightly placed his hands near Yeonjun's waist. "That makes me feel a little special,"

"Keep being honest like that, and maybe you can score a second date," Yeonjun rested his arms on Soobin's shoulder and wrapped his hands around the taller.

Jihoon looked at the empty cup in his hands and thought it was about time he makes his round downstairs before his friends, specially the hostess of the party, forget that he is still attending the event. As he was about to turn around, his eyes fell on an adult man standing just outside the gate bordering the backyard. The only reason he could even see the figure in the dark was the light that made its way from the fire pit which stood near the pool. Everything except for his face was shrouded in the darkness, and from the look of it, it felt like he was definitely keeping watch over someone in the party. _Does anyone here owe him money or something?_ He contemplated whether the matter was concerning enough to suggest Yeri about checking it over. However, by the time he had taken another look at the area, the man was already gone. As Jihoon kept looking around, he felt as if he just saw something jumping high onto the roof of the adjacent house and moving very fast over it. He eventually ignored the feeling and headed downstairs.

The reality dawned on Soobin as he caught the sight of the illuminated orb that hung overhead. While it was traveling to its crest in the sky, Soobin had been busy glossing over its existence as he immersed himself in the pretty boy in front of him. His heart started to pick up its pace without any compelling stimulation. He couldn't quite fight off the rush that had already started to stir up inside his body. In between flailing his sight from one side to another as he found it difficult to focus, he felt like he caught a glimpse of Seungwoo standing behind the firepit. As the surrounding blurred, he clenched his hands around a piece of fabric on Yeonjun's jacket, hoping he could resist the light-headedness.

Soobin jerked his hands away, before the claws that were coming out of his fingers could pierce the other's clothing. _Damn it. He thought he would at least have till_ _nighfall_ _before the moon starts influencing him_. Around this point, Yeonjun could confirm the tenseness, he thought, he sensed off of Soobin.

"Are you okay?" Yeonjun asked with a voice filled with concern. Soobin scrunched up his face and tried to hide from Yeonjun's observation. Before anyone can notice his claws, he turned around and darted away from the backyard, leaving his date behind and wondering, in the crowd.

As Jihoon reached the second floor, he looked outside the balcony to find Soobin who was dancing with Yeonjun abruptly walking away and leaving the other to deal with the crestfallen expression that had settled on his face. _What the- Is Soobin really not the drama-free guy_ _Jihoon_ _thought he was?_ Was he wrong when he decided to support Yeonjun on his decision to bring Soobin along? Jihoon turned on his heels and strode back down the stairs to go after Yeonjun.

Beomgyu tried to suppress his restlessness as he kept marching toward Yeri's house. Oh, how he wished his brother hadn't taken the jeep today. He slowed down his pace when the sight of his destination came within his purview as he walked up the slanted road. He could spot scattered crowd just outside the house and, also near another distant house where he guessed a gathering was taking place as well. _Of course, it's a Saturday night._ But can anyone guess that from the look on Beomgyu's face? _The answer is no,_ because he is pathetically entering a party, _the party he was looking forward to even this morning, but no more,_ since there was a indispensable change in the circumstance. He cursed Soobin one last time before going inside the building.

"He didn't come," Beomgyu heard Wonjin sigh and speak dejectedly as he moved near the boy after not getting any wind of Soobin in the backyard or the first floor. _But he hasn't asked_ _Wonjin_ _about Soobin yet._ Or did Wonjin already decipher the fact Beomgyu was looking for his friend? _Nah, no way._ The smell of alchohol on Wonjin's breath is coming off _too strong for him to be this cognitive_.

"Who...didn't come?" Beomgyu thought he should confirm first.

"The freshman I invited," Wonjin glanced at Beomgyu. Beomgyu indistinctly let out a exhale. Wonjin pouted as he spoke, "Maybe I was too pushy,"

"And what's with these vibey songs? This shit is getting on my feels, and making me feel stupid. I bet Jihoon paid the DJ," Wonjin continued.

"Ah, Wonjin, have you seen Soobin?" Beomgyu doesn't have time for Wonjin's drunk, trivial complains right now.

"Soobin?" Wonjin frowned in confusion before his eyes lit up. "Oh, the one who came with Yeonjun?" _Okay, so Soobin made it to the party_.

"Do you know where he is now?"

"Nope," Wonjin answered. When Beomgyu was about to leave, he heard the former saying, "But I have seen Yeonjun heading to the second floor,"

As Beomgyu reached the foot of the stairs, he sensed his phone ringing in his pocket. _Shit, it's Ryujin. She must have called to check on how Beomgyu was handling 'the Soobin matter'._

"What's with the noise?" Ryujin's voice boomed. _Wow, she just jumped in, not even an hello._ "Beomgyu, are you at the party? Why are you at the party?"

 _"Why, you ask?"_ Beomgyu internally laughed, thinking how, ironically, he was not the one who created a mess this time - a contradiction to what Ryujin is assuming on the other end of the phone. "To retrieve our dear friend Soobin,"

"What is _he_ doing there?"

"Well, do I really need to explain? Yeonjun is here," Beomgyu kept ascending the stairs while keeping an eye out for either Soobin or Yeonjun.

"Damn it, that brat," She paused as she tried to calm down. "Well, inform me when you find him,"

"Ryujin, I don't think he's here anymore," Beomgyu scanned the room, standing at the top of the stairs, when he had reached the second floor . He managed to spot Yeonjun standing near the balcony, facing sideways.

"What?"

"Yeah, Yeonjun's standing here alone, talking to Jihoon and Yeosang," 

Beomgyu felt Jihoon's eyes on him and quickly moved away from the other's sight to a different side of the room.

"You have to check the house and surrounding areas properly," Ryujin spoke with a discerning tone. "Call me if you can't find him within ten minutes,"

"I thought you can't get out of your house,"

"Exactly." She stressed. "If I am gonna be sneaking out, I need to make sure I am actually needed,"

Beomgyu cut off his phone and glanced at the direction he had seen Yeonjun standing. _Should he ask Yeonjun? But if he does, and Yeonjun doesn't know anything- that will just make the other suspicious._ In the end, Beomgyu considered that he would just find Soobin by himself.

As Beomgyu glanced at his phone, he found the ten minutes he was given by Ryujin was about to be over. He had checked the possible adjacent nooks and corners in the neighborhood but found no trace of his werewolf friend. Now, he stood at an alleyway and held up his phone to call his _other werewolf friend_. As he pressed the call button on Ryujin's contact number and lifted his phone upto his ear, he spotted a certain known face situated at the nearest intersection of the narrow passage he was standing at.

"Beomgyu, have you found Soobin?" Ryujin's voice chimed. Beomgyu saw the figure slowly walking over to him. He spoke with a composure, "Tell her everything's under control,"

"No," Beomgyu's voice wavered. He wasn't sure which person he was really answering to.

"I am just trying to help here, Beomgyu," The figure assured.

"But Seungwoo's here," 

"What?" Ryujin exclaimed. Beomgyu met his gaze with Seungwoo who stood in front of Beomgyu, inclining on a wall with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk plastered on his face.

"It's okay," Beomgyu mouthed an I-will-talk-to-you-later to Ryujin and disconnected the call.

"You're one smart boy,"

"So, I see you haven't stopped stalking us," Beomgyu spoke in a scornful tone.

"And I see you guys are still stubborn in believing what you want to,"

"Okay, you know what, I will stop doing that," Beomgyu ran his hands through his hair and straightened himself. "You said you are going to help me. So, if you happen to know anything about where Soobin is, please tell me... _and then_ we can both be on own our way,"

"And what will you do if you find Soobin? Reason with him?" Seungwoo uncrossed his hands and walked toward Beomgyu. Feeling too prideful to be backing away, Beomgyu simply knitted his eyebrows together. Seungwoo put on a smug look on his face and said, "He went to a party tonight, _knowing_ what would happen. He didn't listen to you even before he transformed, _now_ there is even lesser chance,"

Beomgyu can't deny that there were some truth to Seungwoo's words. So, he stopped arguing but continued to maintain a disgruntled look on his face as he listened to Seungwoo rubbing his arguments on him.

"I am sure, with _your deductive skill_ , you already know you can't close the gap between those _crazy difference_ that exist between a human and a werewolf. So, there's nothing more for you to do here, except calling that _girlfriend of yours_ or letting me help,"

Beomgyu took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly in defeat. He tried to sound appeasing as he spoke, "Okay, so, what's your big plan?"

Seungwoo stood next to Beomgyu and placed his hands on the younger's shoulder. He stated in an impish manner, "I saw where he was headed and, I managed to catch his scent. Leave finding and bringing back Soobin to me,"

Beomgyu looked to his side and found Seungwoo rummaging his pant pocket. 

"You take these," Seungwoo pulled out a set of keys and presented them in front of Beomgyu. "Find Soobin's car and take it back to his house," 

Beomgyu stared at Seungwoo with a dubious look in his eyes.

"My pickpocketing skill is not that great, if that's what you're wondering. I picked it up after Soobin dropped it," Seungwoo claimed. Beomgyu grabbed the keys from Seungwoo's grasp and started to walk forward.

Beomgyu brought out his phone in order to call Ryujin and brief her about the current situation.

"Contrary to what you're thinking, your friend is more likely to injure me. The first time is _rarely never messy_ ," Seungwoo asserted after he followed Beomgyu out of the alleyway. Beomgyu simply kept the muscles on his face tightened, trying not to react to anything the other said. 

"Specially, without an _alpha's assistance_ ," Seungwoo headed toward the other side of the road, seemingly unaffected by the moonlight that fell upon him as he walked.


	12. A Second Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I made a change in one of the previous chapter. I replaced Seungyoun's character to Heo Chan.

**_Tomorrow x Together - Puma_ **

Everywhere Soobin looked through his double vision, there were people. _And there was lights. And there were noise. And Lights. And Noise. Lights..._

By the time Soobin was seeing more than just bokeh, the world around him had became red. He was aware of the fact he had transformed, but he couldn't do anything about it. He didn't even know what to think about it either. He could only make out the grove of trees that surrounded him. He could only endure the chill from the cold air that hit him. He could only hear the continuous noise of cricket from the grounds.

It was hard to form proper thoughts when he was constantly being interrupted by signals that his heightened senses sent, diverting all his attention toward comprehending the abstractness it formed. His mental capacity had reduced to being a mere system for a flight-or-flight response.

While Soobin stayed in a crouched position with his neck craned to pick up any shift in the environment - anything that could potentially become threat, he felt himself getting tired as the uneventful moments dragged on and his vigilance was being of no use. He stood up straight, supported himself by placing his hand on a tree trunk and shifted most of his weight onto it. A howling cut through the otherwise silent area of the forest he was situated in, and Soobin immediately turned to the direction of the sound. _As if he was being called..._

He didn't understand why, but he knew he had to respond to whoever had called him... _Like the option to refuse was shut down by his instincts._

Soobin wished he knew where his feet was taking him while his senses steered him toward the source of the howling sound he had heard earlier. He reached an area within the forest that didn't appear any different from his previous spot. Suddenly, his eyes caught on a figure, mostly hooded by fog, behind a tree that was rooted beyond a small clearing in the distant. As the figure slightly turned around, Soobin took in the unswerving pair of red eyes which simply directed a piercing gaze at him. The figure stepped out of its misty cloak and Soobin could outline the physique of...the werewolf. Even though the creature appeared bipedal, its legs were unlike human's. Its calves was bent, so they could be passed for a hind leg; therefore, making it hunch forward when it walked. There were dark colored fur covering every part of its body, someplace thick and elsewhere thin, but his torso which resembled that of a human could still be distinguished. Despite having all the features of a wolf, save for the muzzle, its rather flat face, gave away the fact it was not entirely a canine. _It was a human, a werewolf...with red eyes...and more animalistic._ _It was the alpha._

While the alpha werewolf was still at a considerable distance and Soobin was preparing to run away, something flew in and struck on a tree close to the bigger werewolf. The sudden motion made Soobin twitch in his place and turn on his heels to run away. In the background, a silver flare erupted upon its impact on the tree trunk and the alpha shrank back to the part of the forest he appeared from.

As Soobin started to gain speed, he felt more comfortable running using both his hands and feet, sort of in a crawling posture, and covering more ground in the process. While the noise from the commotion he left behind had grown faint, he slowed down and took a look around. His eyes caught on a red jacket hanging from a tree branch. He could feel the cognitive ability he had lost seeping back to him, for the first time in a while, at the sight of it. Now that he could think past his instinct, he remembered: _Yeonjun was wearing a red jacket this evening._

Soobin heard a footstep and looked toward the direction of the sound to find Seungwoo slowly walking toward him. That time - _when he thought he had seen Seungwoo in the party in between the moments of the full moon starting to take effect on him_ , he wasn't wrong. Seungwoo was there. Although he remembers leaving Yeonjun at the party, the latter must have followed him out and...and then Seungwoo might have gotten a hold of him.

"Where is Yeonjun?" Soobin yelled.

"He is safe, Soobin," Seungwoo spoke dismissively, and then with a condescending tone, he added " _From you,_ "

This, coupled with the already bad impression he had on Seungwoo and his emotions being elevated due to the full moon, sent Soobin into a rage and he leaped onto Seungwoo. Seungwoo moved away, but he was still within Soobin's reach. As soon as he managed to get a hold on Seungwoo, he shoved his hand on the other's chest which sent the male flying into a distance. Seungwoo dusted himself off after he had landed on his back and stood up casually as Soobin glared and growled at him.

Seungwoo scoffed and took off his jacket. "That was cute,"

After turning to the side and throwing the jacket away on the ground, he faced Soobin to reveal his blue eyes. He stretched his neck and his werewolf features started appearing on his face slowly. Once the transformation completed, he snarled at Soobin.

Both moved in circle, keeping a distant from each other and trying to find an opportunity to attack. When Soobin impatiently came charging in, Seungwoo got a hold of his clothes and turned him around to continuously batter him against a tree a few times. Soobin managed to push him away and slide from underneath the other's grip. They recovered within a few seconds and waited to charge again. This time Seungwoo swooped at the younger. They twisted and turned on each other as they slid down a sloppy ground. Seungwoo managed to get on top and lock Soobin on the ground to prevent him from thrashing around by pressing one hands on his chest while the other hand wrapped around the younger's forearm. He dragged Soobin to the nearest tree and made him sit up as he loosened his grip on the latter.

"What did you do with him?" Almost-desperation dripping from his currently wolfish voice.

Seungwoo visibly clenched his teeth, bringing out his fangs, and pressed his fingers onto Soobin's chest authoritatively at first, then made it more gentle as if he was giving the younger a chance to cool down. He slowly transformed back to human again. Soobin looked up to meet Seungwoo's gaze and sent a low growl at the elder.

"Quiet," Seungwoo whispered. He slightly lifted himself and knitted his eyebrows. He spoke in a concerned tone, "They haven't left yet,"

"The hunters are here," Seungwoo announced and looked directly at him. "Run,"

Before Soobin could comprehend anything, Seungwoo whisked away from his view. Soobin assumed that he was told to follow the elder werewolf and he got up to do just that before his vision went grey and distorted due to the outburst of a shimmering flick of light, radiating from the nearest tree. Even when the flare died down, his partial blindness didn't go away. He tried to move in the direction he was heading earlier nonetheless. Just after he had felt his hands touching the bark of a tree, something thin and sharp punctured through his right forearm, making him scream out in pain.

He heard footsteps coming his way after he had failed to take out what seemed to be an arrow that was keeping him pinned to the tree. As his vision started to clear, he got distracted from the stinging in his arm due to focusing on the middle-aged man in front of him holding a cross-bow high in the air.

 _Shit. How could Soobin let himself come to this situation_?

There was no doubt he was a hunter, as Seungwoo mentioned. Soobin could understand why he felt like he had seen the man before, somewhere in town, since Ryujin mentioned the hunters being just local people having _a less- aggressive day job_ , but he still couldn't confirm his identity. The man directed a spiteful look at Soobin as two other men, seemingly younger, joined to stand behind him. Unlike the man in front, who seemed to be leading this group, the men in the back had a shotgun in their hold.

"Take him," He ordered, lowering his weapon.

"Yes, Mr. Kim,"

_Kim? Was there a chance he wasn't just any hunter, but belonged to the very family who led the hunters themselves?_

Panic resurfaced within Soobin as soon as one of the men advanced toward him. But before he could take more than a few steps, he was dragged to the back and thrown in the air where he went spiraling in the distant. While the other hunters stayed startled at the sudden attack, and busy looking at its direction, the second of the younger men was pulled by his neck and tossed onto a tree. As the man landed unconscious on the ground, Mr. Kim completely turned away from Soobin and brought out a handgun in his other hand.

Meanwhile, Seungwoo appeared in front of Soobin and pulled the arrow out of him. By the time, Mr. Kim had returned his attention, the werewolf in his captive had already been set free and have disappeared from the area.

Soobin rested at the foot of a tree, trying to pace his breathing and heartbeat back to normal. He looked up at Seungwoo who stood with his back supported on a tree and was huffing as well. From the place they were staying, Soobin could see a road that passed by the sideline. _They were almost out of the woods._

Soobin felt his body transforming back to his human self, as he continued to calm down slowly.

"What?" Seungwoo raised his eyebrows.

"Is Yeonjun really safe?"

"Did you really think I did something to him?"

"His jacket-"

"That was just a red jacket I stole, and put it up to get your attention. But you made it about me and immediately jumped to something negative,"

Soobin looked away and hunched over at the accusation, which he could confirm as truth now that his judgment was not as clouded as before. While he didn't know many things about Seungwoo, he acknowledged that Seungwoo has gotten him out of hunters' clutch yet again.

"I am sorry about that...and I don't know if you really killed your sister, or that man in the car," Soobin turned his gaze toward Seungwoo. "But thank you for saving me,"

"Look, Soobin, I might have given a wrong impression to you," Seungwoo wiped the sweat from his face and straightened his posture. "But I am and never was your enemy,"

He continued after a few seconds. "My elder sister was suspicious that there's a new alpha in Beacon Hills, so she decided to check if it was true. I became worried when she stopped contacting me for a whole day, so I came here looking for her, on the same night you got bitten. But as you know, she was already dead,"

"You buried her body in your yard,"

"What else was I supposed to do when I found her in pieces?" Seungwoo yelled with bitterness. "You don't understand, but it could have been a bait to _catch me_ ,"

"You think the alpha killed your sister?"

"And the man in the car,"

"Then, what were you doing in the hospital on the night he died?"

"I was just visiting a relative,"

"How do I know this isn't just your careful attempt at shifting all the blame to this alpha? I mean, it would be pretty easy to convince me that the alpha is evil just because he turned me into a werewolf and made my life miserable. And it helps that he is a total mystery,"

"I don't have any other proof to show you, Soobin," Seungwoo retorted, followed by an exhale as he tried to calm himself down. It was a change from the smugness he always displayed, and Soobin started to believe Seungwoo was being his genuine self this time. "But I can tell you just one thing,"

Soobin stood up and looked at Seungwoo with an attentive expression on his face.

"You're a beta in his pack and he has certain powers over you, _to make you listen to him_ ,"

Soobin remembered the howling earlier, when he couldn't do anything but follow the sound and how it led to the alpha himself.

"Like...through howling?"

"You've heard him?"

"I think so,"

"There you go. I deduced it right then," Seungwoo made a quick gesture by extending one of his hand to point out his reasoning. "See, the reason you were there that night when the alpha attacked the car driver, was because he called onto you,"

 _It made sense._ The response to the call is essentially instinctual, so Soobin's subconscious as a werewolf followed the alpha without involving the awareness of a sleeping Soobin.

"I don't think he has any other beta except you. So, he needs you in his pack. He wants you as an accomplice. And that's why, you are the only one who can help me get to him,"

As Soobin silently walked behind Seungwoo, under the yellow streetlights on the road beside the Beacon Hills Preserve he tried to wrap his head around what Seungwoo had told him.

 _An accomplice_? The mysterious alpha is _pursuing Soobin to make him join in the kill?_ And Seungwoo wants to _catch the alpha?_ Well, at least, Soobin was right about _some things_ \- Seungwoo _did_ have a use for Soobin in his mind; the werewolf _who had turned Soobin_ was responsible for the murders. But Seungwoo was not that werewolf. Then, Seungwoo might not be the killer, but does it mean _Soobin should trust him and help him as the elder wants him to?_

Seungwoo broke the silence as he spoke with a sincere tone in his voice, "I want to offer you a deal. I believe this alpha will not stop with these attacks. So, before he kills anyone again, help me find this person who killed my sister, and I will make sure he doesn't force you to join his pack,"

Soobin stopped in his track and looked taken aback. It's true that the alpha will seek him out even if Soobin doesn't go looking for him. And if he refuses to join the alpha, he can potentially get killed. If Seungwoo is offering him protection from the alpha, he feels like he should take it. _No_ , he should talk about it with his friends first.

As if Seungwoo could read his mind, he said, "I am aware you have friends who are more than willing to help you, Soobin. But we're up against an alpha here. And you don't want to risk your friends in this mess,"

Soobin knew he didn't have much options in the matter, but to consider this offer. While the agreement itself was pretty generous, the person who was offering it, on the other hand, didn't appear as much.

"I will think about it," Soobin started walking. "But for now, we can agree to tell each other everything important,"

"Fine by me," Seungwoo gave a satisfied smile.

"I can really trust you?"

"Yes,"

"Then, will you tell me, why you have a different colored eyes?"

"That Shin girl couldn't tell you?" Seungwoo laughed.

Soobin looked at Seungwoo, unamused.

"No deal is going to happen if you don't stop stalking us,"

"Fine. No stalking,"

Soobin and Seungwoo both reflexively looked behind at the sound of a car approaching in the empty road. The car honked when it got closer to them and Soobin stared at its direction in confusion. As the vehicle neared them, it slowed down and they could see Beomgyu driving the car that Soobin borrowed from his elder brother.

"Get in, loser," Beomgyu said after he had stopped the car and opened the front passenger side door toward Soobin.

"You haven't left," Seungwoo remarked as he peeped inside the car.

"As if," Beomgyu scoffed.

"How you did you find us?"

"Learned from the best,"

Seungwoo raised his eyebrows and pulled the corner of his lips in amusement. Meanwhile, Soobin looked at the exchange, puzzled. As the conversation ended, he sighed and told Beomgyu to wait for a while.

"How do I contact you?" Soobin inquired.

"I will contact you,"

"How? More stalking?"

"It's not stalking if I show up at places after predicting where you'd be at the moment,"

Soobin rolled his eyes.

"Soobin, you don't have to stay on guard with me this much," Seungwoo asserted. "Not while there is someone out there who could be earning your trust just to betray you in the end,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Soobin scrunched his faced at the evasive statement.

"I think you'd rather not hear it from me," Seungwoo simply stated and didn't look like he was going to explain further. _Typical Seungwoo_. So, he got inside the car with a displeased look on his face.

"You should lay low for the next few hours. The effect of full moon stays until two or three in the morning," Seungwoo bended and talked through the window.

As Beomgyu started to drive away, he watched Seungwoo walking casually into the forest.

"I guess you found yourself a new best friend, while your _actual_ best friend was worried sick and circling the areas near the forest for the past two hours," Beomgyu accused.

"Well, erm, ice-cream, coffee or fries?" Soobin gave a guilty smile.

"All three of them. And for this whole week,"

"You got it," Soobin immediately agreed before taking some moment to say, "And I am really sorry,"

Beomgyu exhaled. "Just fill us in tomorrow," 

_**Kang Daniel - 2U** _

When Beomgyu saw Soobin in school after the weekend, the first thing he said, "Sorry buddy, but you didn't make the cut,"

"For what?"

"The lacrosse team? Did you forget you went to the tryout?"

"Uh, no," Soobin knitted his brows together. "I guess, it's for the better,"

"Ryujin will definitely say so,"

"Hmm," Soobin appeared zoned out from the conversation and seemed to be thinking about something else.

"What's distracting you?"

"Oh?" Soobin snapped out of his thoughts. "I said sorry to Yeonjun over text and told him I wanted talk in person. He just replied with a 'K',"

"Ahh, 'K' is never good,"

"Yeah, so I am preparing myself so that I don't say something stupid when I meet him,"

Both Soobin and Beomgyu sighed.

"Didn't think the day when you go through your dating problems would come so soon. _God_ , I feel so single," Beomgyu whined. "Well, I will leave you alone to deal with it, then,"

Soobin refused to give Beomgyu a reaction as he spectated his dramatic dialogues. Soobin noticed Bemogyu's face brightening up as Wooyoung passed by them in the hallway.

"Oh, hey Wooyoung," Beomgyu beamed. Wooyoung greeted him back with a polite smile, but didn't give him a chance to start a conversation. 

"You look..." Beomgyu watched the other walk away. "...like you're gonna ignore me,"

Soobin tried not to react to the scene in front of him as he watched Beomgyu moving on from his disappointment pretty quickly. This has happened way too many times for Beomgyu over the years that he taught himself not to get affected by Wooyoung's lack of interest in him. However, teaching himself to totally get over his crush was proving to be a little harder.

"Make sure to congratulate Ryujin for getting in the team when you see her," Beomgyu said casually before leaving.

"Will do,"

Yeonjun was organizing the content of his locker when Yeosang came over and started talking with him. Interestingly, he got to know this quite laid-back guy Saturday night after Soobin had suddenly left him at the party. Unlike his expectation, he ended up having a good time at the party thanks to Jihoon, who later on, also brought Yeosang to hang out with them.

Yeonjun noticed a boy, who was visibly shorter than him and had grey hair, walking towards them with an amused expression on his face.

"Would you believe it if I told you Jihoon was being nice to me?"

"Yes?" Yeosang implied that it was pretty obvious thing to happen. The smile disappeared from the other boy's face as he stared at Yeosang with confusion smeared over his face.

"But I thought he disliked me or something,"

"Honey, it's not you he disliked. It was the person you always hanged out with,"

The boy looked dejected at the statement for a while and then pouted. He looked at Yeonjun who had paused his activity to comprehend Yeosang's conversation with the unknown male, without the provision of much context.

Yeosang seemed to get his cue to introduce the two boys. "So, Wooyoung, this is Yeonjun. Your potential replacement," 

"Hi, Wooyoung," Yeonjun smiled genially toward Wooyoung, who had been mentioned to him in many conversation over the past few days, but he couldn't associate a face with the name until now. "And, please know, I have not consented to this replacement. I am not going to steal your best friend,"

"Oh, I am not threatened. I know this prick didn't tell you one good thing about me. You should forget whatever he told you and get to know me. I bet we will become best friends and we can both ditch this no-fun Yeosang," Wooyoung laughed.

"Hey, that's unfair. I met Yeonjun first. So, I get to make back-stabbing deals with him, not you," Yeosang protested. "Besides, Yeonjun will get tired from the amount you talk,"

"Hey, talking is part of the fun,"

"Okay, I will turn on a stopwatch and join in your fun," Yeosang shared a sarcastic smile with Wooyoung.

Lunch was almost over when Soobin was walking past the room of their lacrosse coach and he heard his name being called from inside the room.

"Seen the notice board, Choi?" Coach asked plainly as he sat in his desk, working on some sheets of paper.

"Yes, coach."

"I didn't put you in the team-"

"I know,"

Coach looked up. "Kid, let me finish," 

Soobin nodded.

"You have the athletic ability the team needs. But, I assume, you simply learned a few tactics of lacrosse and don't know how to play an actual game,"

"Er, yes," 

"That's why, I didn't put your name there," Coach got up and walked around his desk to stand near Soobin. "But, I should get to see you play again, since you left the tryout early that day,"

Soobin face slightly lit up with surprise. "You are giving me another chance?"

"This isn't another chance. I don't give second chances," Coach tried to defend himself, and emphasized, "This is simply a continuation from last time,"

"Okay, Coach. I will take up on it," Soobin smiled. He wasn't much dejected to know he wasn't in the team because he already expected that news, and it's not like he had a passion for playing. But it would be fun to be in the team. He could spend more time with Yeonjun while enjoying a new experience for himself.

"We have a practice after school today. Be there," Coach went back to his chair. "All you gotta show me is that you can quickly pick up how the game works,"

"Yes, Coach,"

As Soobin slowly got out of the room, he saw Yeonjun walking ahead of him in the hallway. He paced to catch up and stand by his side.

"Yeonjun?" He softly called out.

"Hi," Yeonjun appeared casual as he stared at Soobin who displayed a nervous smile. 

"So, what happened? I thought we had an agreement and, then you left me stranded in the party," Yeonjun slowed his walking and started speaking in a slightly accusatory tone.

"Yeah, I know. I am really sorry. I am. But you're gonna have to trust that I had a really good reason," 

"Did you get sick?" 

"I definitely had an attack of something,"

Yeonjun stopped in his track and looked up at Soobin. "Am I gonna get an explanation?"

"Can't you just find in your heart to trust me on this one?" Soobin gave an imploring look.

Yeonjun glanced away, sighed and then looked up to met Soobin's gaze.

"Am I gonna regret this?" 

"Probably," Soobin gave a playful smile. The serious expression on Yeonjun's face disappeared as he chuckled. 

Soobin took a step closer to Yeonjun, whose lips curled into a smile at the action. "So, is that a yes on a second chance?" 

"Definitely, yes," 


	13. Change of Priorities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a little change in the earlier chapters. Seokjin is supposed to be Soobin's elder brother.

"Why did you think she let you off the hook last time? She thought you didn't make the cut," Beomgyu explained while discussing about how Ryujin would take the news of the renewed possibility of Soobin making the team. 

Soobin had given both of his friends updates about the incidents that had happened during the night of the full moon over the phone, therefore, making it hard to know what could have been Ryujin's unfiltered reaction to the whole matter. While she sounded pretty calm, it could have been only because she was informed that the situation didn't spiral out their control, _thanks to Seungwoo interfering_. Then again, she didn't comment anything about Seungwoo either. Since, Soobin didn't want to muse on the topic anymore, finding it embarrassing to be reminded of his not-so-thoughtful-actions that night, he was happy to leave it like that. However, in the light of a recent turn of event, Ryujin could just be tipped off.

"Oh, wow. Wait, what's your say in this matter?" 

"Me? Well, when I gave you the idea last time, I was thinking more of what I would do if I had powers. It's no secret that I would want to show off, particularly if I wanted to impress someone. But then, I had a talk with Ryujin and she made me regret the whole idea,"

"Yeah, she has that effect," Soobin laughed while looking through a section of spare equipment left in the sport room. "So, you're saying, I shouldn't play?"

"No, I am saying you play but keep it _minimalistic_ on the field. Like don't put your everything while throwing the ball because it might end up speeding, or no need to struggle with the players because that will just fire you up. Just keep it casual. No pressure,"

Soobin took out a few things and turned to his friend. "But then I can't make first line,"

Beomgyu pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes toward Soobin, clearly judging and unimpressed. 

"You need to change your priorities, dude,"

The creaking noise of the already ajar door echoed inside the room as someone further opened it. They glanced toward the sound to see Taehyun walking in. Some moments passed by, while they exchanged awkward stares with Taehyun, before he brought back the indifferent look on his face as he proceeded to pick up a box cartoon to put in the lacrosse equipment on the shelves.

Beomgyu headed toward the door and got back to his conversation with Soobin. "First, make sure you qualify for the team without making trouble and then think about first line,"

"Where are you taking those?" Taehyun inquired, from the back.

"I need them?" Soobin turned around, followed by Beomgyu.

"Coach had a change of plan. He wants to evaluate Soobin again," Beomgyu provided.

"Right," Taehyun didn't seem too happy even though he was smiling and nodding. "Well, you should pick up rest of the stuff while you're here,"

"I told you last time, Taehyun. I am not the equipment guy,"

"Well, someone needs to take these,"

"Why can't that someone be you?"

Taehyun arched one of his eyebrows.

Beomgyu sighed. "If you need my help, you can just say it," 

"I don't need your help,"

"Good. Then, I am leaving,"

Beomgyu didn't waste any time in going back to his course. Soobin glanced at Taehyun who appeared slightly annoyed. He remembered his last encounter with the guy and how he came for him, but right now, he was just treating Soobin with his usual amount of displeasure. Wanting not to mess up things the way it was now, Soobin followed his friend out of the sport room.

"Where is this sudden braveness coming from?" Soobin asked in a playful manner.

"He threatened you last time. I can't just let it go," Beomgyu answered. "Besides, I am tired of his attitude,"

Just when Yeonjun got out of the locker room, suited in his lacrosse fit, he saw Wonjin who had changed into his lacrosse uniform as well, chatting with Jihoon as they walked down the hallway. 

"Hey, man, welcome to the team," Wonjin approached as he noticed Yeonjun. He energetically shared a side-hug with the taller.

Yeonjun chuckled. "Thanks," 

"So, how do you feel?" Jihoon asked jovially.

"Well, people have told me I am pretty good at lacrosse,"

"Oh, he's being humble," Wonjin remarked, mostly to Jihoon.

"I know right," Jihoon returned his gaze to Yeonjun. "I told you during the party, didn't I? Everyone I talked to about the tryout praised you. It made me wish I had rescheduled my doctor's appointment to see you play. But I am not gonna miss it today,"

"Ah, it's nice people thought that way," Yeonjun looked shy, not sure how to handle the compliment. "But, I didn't know you were sick," 

"It was just a check-up," Jihoon informed. Yeonjun nodded.

"So, yeah, I guess I am not worried about my performance. I just...hope to get along with my teammates,"

"You don't think we spent enough time to be _getting along_?" Wonjin pointed.

Yeonjun laughed. "Okay, one down. Thirteen more to go,"

They started walking toward the outdoor fields.

"Well, don't worry. Most of them were there with me last time, and they're nice people. I know they will like you,"

"Anyone's nicer than San," Jihoon scoffed, which earned him a playful smack from Wonjin.

"You really don't wanna hide the fact you don't like him, huh?"

"Why should I hide? He's not here anymore,"

"Yeah, but he was our friend,"

"If you haven't noticed, we have a big friend group. I don't have to like everyone,"

"Whatever, dude," Wonjin glanced at Yeonjun who appeared lost. 

Wonjin smiled at Yeonjun and stated, "You didn't get to meet San,"

"Yeah, you mentioned him at the party. He's Wooyoung friend, right?"

"Boyfriend," Wonjin smirked and watch Yeonjun, who mouthed a silent 'oh' and smiled sheepishly. Yeonjun finally made sense of what Yeosang was talking about in the morning. _So, the person Jihoon disliked and Wooyoung always hanged out was this San._

"But I heard they broke up since San left," Wonjin proceeded to explain, "San was also our team captain last year, and every year before that. Even in middle school," 

"Not all of middle school," Jihoon interrupted. "And technically he was a-,"

"Co-captain," Wonjin rolled his eyes, and then returned to Yeonjun. "Right, I remember. He was co-captain with Jihoon,"

Yeonjun looked surprised, and playfully accused, "You didn't mention anything about playing lacrosse," 

"Yeah, I, uh...don't play anymore," Jihoon stated.

"Why not?" Yeonjun saw Wonjin losing his smile.

"I am not physically fit enough to play," Jihoon gave a superficial answer. Yeonjun felt the topic must be sensitive for Jihoon from the way Wonjin appeared awkward, and decided to let it go. They have reached the lacrosse field by then.

Soon they noticed Soobin on the field, already geared up, carrying a lacrosse stick, and talking to Ryujin.

"Why is he here? I thought he didn't get in," Wonjin mused. 

"Oh, Coach gave him another chance," Yeonjun informed.

"You've talked to Soobin?" Jihoon raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Yeonjun admitted. As he watched the two boys in front of him not being too fond about the fact, so he added, "Everything's fine now,"

"Okay. If you say so," 

"You're free to do whatever you want, Soobin. As your friend, I just had to warn you," Ryujin feigned an amicable tone as she spoke. "Just know, I am not going to go easy on you, not _even a bit._ And if you really want a place in the team, we will have to see if you can defeat me as your opponent,"

 _Oh, wow._ Soobin wasn't obviously expecting Ryujin to be very supportive of the news of him playing, but he didn't think the girl would be going as far to passive-aggressively challenge him. As Ryujin walked away from him, he took a deep breath and exhaled it out. He noticed Taehyun's gaze filled with contempt from the other side of the field. It was no good. He was getting worked up already. _Keep it casual, Soobin. No pressure._

Soobin caught Yeonjun's eyes as the latter walked across the field to join the crowd of people warming up. Well, Soobin initially came to play lacrosse because he wanted to impress Yeonjun and get closer to him. If there should be any pressure, it should be because of Yeonjun. Yet, as he watched the way Yeonjun's full lips stretching into a smile, his nervousness started to subside.

As soon as coach came to the field, he walked over to Soobin. He picked up some gears from the equipment box and tossed at Soobin to catch.

"You're in goal," Coached declared.

"But-"

"I know this is your tryout, but it's also a practice session for others. Scoring some shots will give the team some confident boost in their first day in. Go on, get them energized,"

"I can barely play-"

"Just try not to take any on the face,"

Soobin scowled the entire time he spent on putting on his goalkeeper gears and taking his position in front of the goal post. _This is not what he had on his mind._ As he watched the team gathering themselves in a single line opposite to him, he started questioning whether arguing with Ryujin earlier, about his decision of joining the team was even worth it.

Seeing that Soobin had stood with his feet apart and shoulder forward, coach proceeded to blow on his whistle. The sudden noise pierced through Soobin's hearing, making him flinch. He didn't understand why this was happening - he was aware of the fact that he couldn't handle his strength or speed well, but he thought he had, at least, control over his heightened senses. However, the first player in line didn't know about the fact Soobin was still recovering from the ringing in his ears and went straight for his shot. The ball hit him right on his helmet and his unready self, failing to take the momentum, fell on the ground. 

Soobin heard a few people snickering at his misery. Just some days ago, he was rejoicing about the fact he scored a goal with the expense of sending a ball on some poor boy's face. But now that he was on the receiving end of such thing, it sure didn't feel good. He sat up and found both Yeonjun and Ryujin has slipped out of the line. He saw Yeonjun approaching him while Ryujin had her face scrunched up in concern. He signaled he was okay and Yeonjun went back. 

The practice resumed as Soobin got into his goalkeeper stance. He told himself that, since things weren't going his way, he shouldn't try too hard. If people want to laugh at him failing, he just have to let them, because he would rather not slip up his identity here. But as they say, when you are at your lowest, you can only go higher. Even though he didn't put considerable effort, he had caught the ball sent by the second person in line. His eyes widened as he registered the fact. He smiled at Beomgyu who was the only person cheering in the audience. And things started looking up from that point. As he channeled proper focus into his task, it felt like time had slowed down and he could see exactly where the ball is heading. In this way, he had successfully caught every single ball coming his way, including Yeonjun's. Yeonjun looked surprised, but not as bothered as the other people in the team and those guys who were laughing in the audience earlier. He glanced at the coach who was standing with his jaw slacked in the sideline. 

"He's pretty good," Wooyoung commented, making Jihoon, who was seated nearby, glance at his direction. _Good, huh? That's one way to put it._

Jihoon didn't know Soobin showing up on the lacrosse field wasn't going to be _just an one time thing_. He only knew Soobin as one of Ryujin's childhood friend. Unlike Beomgyu, he had not seen Soobin accompanying to her practices, nor has he seen Soobin near any lacrosse fields in this town. Yes, it could be the case that Soobin had learnt the sport by himself. But, to become that good, he had to be practicing for a long time - this is so out of the blue. Well, just because Jihoon had hit the peak of his lacrosse skill in middle school and got stuck there, doesn't mean everyone else stayed constant. No, he shouldn't fret about this and just learn to appreciate other's ability.

"That's Soobin," Yeosang spoke in a lower volume, not interested to let others in the conversation between him and his friend. "The one Yeonjun invited to the party,"

As the person in front of Ryujin moved away with a dejected expression on his face while Soobin was smiling behind his helmet, she came forward to prepare for her shot. As far as she can remember, she had never intentionally used her werewolf powers while on the field. Partly because she would never hear the end of it if she slips up and her parents know about it, and the other reason was that she actually liked the feeling of being normal. In that way, if she excelled, she would know it was _only her_ accomplishment. Don't get her wrong. It's not like she would trade away her powers for anything. She was born this way. So, she had accordingly come to terms in dealing with whatever being a werewolf would mean for her. But there was this slight emptiness, an itch she occasionally felt whenever her animal side would transpire through without waiting for her permission. The kind of emptiness she felt every time she slipped up in presence of people while her parents took her away and made her spend time in home where had to school herself to stay human. That was not quite possible on the nights of full moon, when she would just have to give in and let that hollow and blunt feeling take over - much like what she was doing now. When she made her serve, she knew how much force she put into it; she knew how fast the ball was advancing. Emotions have gotten so much better of her that she knew she would choose not to fight and let unintentional acts happen. It seems like the anger she was feeling from seeing her friend being reckless despite her warnings, had turned into jealousy for seeing Soobin being able to be so carefree when she had suffered so much in order to keep herself in check.

_**Elle King - Ex's & Oh's** _

Soobin obviously didn't miss the glint of yellow in Ryujin's eyes when she sent the ball in his direction. So, unlike the other throws, he wasn't given all the time in the world to catch it. The event passed by in a flash on the eyes of the audience and their confusion turned to awe as Ryujin's throw made it to the net. As expected, Soobin can't cheat his way through when it comes to Ryujin. Well, Soobin doesn't mind. It's not like he was specifically looking forward to playing as a goalkeeper. It didn't matter what position he ends up with as long as he makes the team. He can afford to miss some shots. Besides, being too good will make him suspicious. _That's it_ \- it's his chance to deliberately fail so that he can show he is just an average beginner.

Just as planned, Soobin withdrew his concentration and let the ball pass by him for the next two persons, missing them by a inch or two, making everyone think as if he really intended to catch them. If he fails just another shot by the one last in line, he will have a good average. So, now he could get back to being unbeatable. However, as he saw Taehyun coming up, he was not too sure about his course of action. He made the plan considering his own stats, which didn't concern who was taking the shot, but suddenly it felt like maybe the other person in question mattered. In that case, should he let him goal to appease him? As Taehyun flung his lacrosse stick, Soobin eventually understood it was not his decision to make. He is not sure if he lost his focus, but for some reason, he couldn't predict where the ball was coming in from, more like he didn't have the time to predict it. Okay, maybe intentionally flunking was having its effect on him. Oh, how he wished he could bring his powers under control, and stop them from having a brain of their own.

While Soobin tried to restore his concentration, Taehyun moved away with a triumphant smirk on his face, which probably inspired the next person in line to have some hope and underestimate Soobin. So what, he bagged a few throw in the beginning? That could be luck.

Soobin picked up the ball from the ground and passed it to the boy who was currently in turn. He swung his arms in circles and got down to his goalkeeper stance, while keeping his eyes fixated on the ball which now rested inside the mesh of the other's stick. He could track almost every movement of the other as he jogged, thrust back his stick and pulled it forward. With a smooth drift, Soobin bent his arms a little and picked up the ball within his stick-head. The team could only stand back and watch the smug smile painted on Soobin's face as he lifted his face. 

The rest of the free throws continued with Soobin being successful in guarding the net and some minutes after it had finished, coach whistled. "Okay, gather around," 

"There's even number of you, huh?" Coach scanned the group. "Well, split into two teams,"

The circle of player broke into two halves according to where they were standing. As Soobin took a peek, he found himself in the same side as Yeonjun, and opposing side of Ryujin. Yeonjun smiled at him at the sudden eye contact and he smiled back; both unaware of what was coming up next. 

"Okay, you go there," The coach started shuffling. "You two come to this side,"

By the time coach was done, Soobin found himself standing next to Ryujin. He looked away as soon as his eyes met with Ryujin, only to face Yeonjun who was in the other team with Taehyun. He sighed. _So much for Ryujin wanting to be Soobin's opponent._

"There's two people short from each side. So, you can cut down a midfielder...and a position from the defense or offence, your choice. We will start in five minutes. Divide the roles among yourselves,"

The two teams moved away from each other to their side of the field. Soobin could sense his team member weren't all that happy to be with a guy who was a total amateur. That explained why, for the first few moments, the group exchanged awkward looks with Soobin who was standing at the back, before ultimately shifting their attention to Ryujin.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Ryujin appeared flustered.

"Aren't you gonna be making the plans?" one of them spoke up.

"Yeah, you were the vice-captain last season," another provided.

"Oh, right," Ryujin chuckled shyly, and started taking a look at all the members. "Okay, uh...Sungchan, think you can handle the goal?"

"Of course," Sungchan beamed. 

Soobin is not sure what to think. He had gotten comfortable with being a goalie just some moments ago and believed it was the safest position for him while they are practicing a real game, but Ryujin had handed it to Sungchan and now Soobin doesn't know which position he could take up.

"Okay, we got one midfielder. Who wants to be another?" Ryujin kept distributing the positions, and eventually declared, "Then, I will be the second one in offence...and Soobin,"

While Ryujin stared awkwardly at Soobin, everyone had diverted their gaze toward him as well. Soobin politely offered, "I don't want to be dragging everyone down, so I guess I will just be a defender?" 

"Okay," Ryujin appeared casual, almost indifferent to the fact Soobin was the closest friend to her among the people standing here. While glancing at the other team, she mused, "They have a lot of potential attacker, and we have three people in defense. I guess, we will have to focus on blocking them than going for making the goals ourselves,"

"I agree," someone said.

"Sungchan, you're our ace for this strategy," Ryujin glanced at the taller.

"I will do my best," 

The coach blew his whistle, making all the students on the field whip their heads in his direction. "We will start now, teams. Get to your positions,"

As the members started dispersing, Ryujin tugged Sungchan on the arm and quietly spoke, "You know, if you do well as a goalie today, coach will you give you that position,"

"Certainly hoping so," Sungchan brought his palms up and crossed his fingers as he grinned with confidence. 

Soobin watched the interaction and couldn't help but think about how he wanted Ryujin to say something encouraging to him too.

As Ryujin headed toward the middle of the field for the face-off, she saw Taehyun making his way toward her from the opposite side with a smirk on his face. It was strange. She knew he was prideful, but he always had a good reason for that. He wasn't the type of person to look down on people if they didn't cause him any trouble, nor did he hold grudges for long. It was more like he tended to his dignity a little too much at times and carried no intention to appease anyone, which was admirable as long as Ryujin wasn't in the receiving end of such behavior. So, what changed now? Why was he enjoying himself so much, when the game hasn't even started? Was it those threats to Soobin? Does Taehyun want to prove something? As far as Ryujin remembers, Taehyun never competed to gain the title of best player on the team. But that was when San was in the team, who wouldn't let anyone near such title anyway. So, with San gone, Taehyun thought the coast was clear, only to take step backwards because of Soobin? Ryujin sighed. No, it shouldn't be about Soobin. She wouldn't let it. Ryujin and Taehyun had given almost similar performance all throughout last season. It should be her who needs to be seen as a comparison for Taehyun, not someone who has no experience in fighting for his passion to play lacrosse.

Ryujin simply scoffed as Taehyun stood face to face with her. Taehyun wiped the smirk off his face and settled for a smile instead; as if Ryujin will be convinced of his good-will by that expression on his face. While Taehyun set the ball on the ground between them,she glanced around to check if everyone in her team were where they were supposed to be.

"Listen up, kids. Not all of you can make first line. So, for everyone...except Soobin, this is your chance to show me what you got. Make your parents proud,"

Ryujin brought her attention back to the boy with the same unyielding expression as her, standing in front. Putting on their helmets, both of them crouched down and placed their stick back to back with the other's keeping the ball in between. The tension broke with the coach's whistle and they were free to tussle for the ball. 

Within a good fifteen seconds, Taehyun managed to seize the ball and pass it to one of his fellow attacker. Very soon, the other team attempted their first goal but Sungchan had fended them off. Soobin watched as the ball kept passing back and forth through the two halves of the field. The members of his team was playing hard to keep the score neck to neck with the other team. He was feeling pretty much useless until the ball landed within his stick. 

"Soobin, pass to your left!" Sungchan yelled, seeing Soobin standing with his eyes widened. Soobin looked to his side to find a midfielder looking at him and he did as he was instructed.

The team assembled near Ryujin during the break given after fifteen minutes of playing. She pointed out a few major mistakes in everyone's performance and gave some advices on what they could do better before they were off to playing again. 

Even with a few points lagging behind the other team, Soobin believed they were doing well in the first part of the game, but ten minutes into the second part, the difference in points were only increasing with the compelling presence of Yeonjun who kept attempting goals after goals and succeeded in quite a few. 

One minute before the second part ends, Soobin found himself reflexively capturing a poorly-passed ball that would have went out of bounds. He knows he should be passing to a midfielder in this situation, but he could see himself attempting a goal if he started running forward now and that's what he did. He dragged his stick over the head of the first opponent who came on his way as he continued to run. Finding himself coming really close to another opponent in front of him, he swiftly did a twirl using his heels as a pivot, bypassing him in the process.

Upon noticing that Soobin had left his post and already crossed the midline, Ryujin called on to a midfielder standing close, "Hey, someone needs to take Soobin's place before we get an offside,"

The other girl nodded and ran toward the defense line. Ryujin stood there staring at Soobin and wondering what fate awaited him.

Soobin found it hard to change his direction as he kept on picking up speed and therefore settled on slightly jumping with his stick drawn away from the blockers, until he noticed three people standing his way who left him no space to avoid them. As if it was a natural movement for Soobin, he flipped in the air. Without wasting a single second after landing on his feet, he made his shot which went right through under the goalkeeper. 

Soobin tried to recover himself while keeping his eyes on the ball and burst into a wide smile upon seeing his success. The cheering of the audience and the members from his team celebrating around him were cut through by the whistle from the coach implying the end of the second part of the game.

"Choi Soobin, get over here," Soobin heard coach yelling and detached himself from the crowd to head to his direction. He took off his helmet and tried to come down from the high. _Oh god, has he overdone it?_

"What in god's name was that? This is a lacrosse field. What are you, trying out for the gymnastics team?"

"No, coach,"

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know. I- I was just trying to make the shot," Soobin tried to keep voice steady and casual.

"Yeah, well, you made the shot. And guess what? You made it in the team,"

An unexpected happiness consumed Soobin as he grasped the strangely delivered news from his coach. He saw Beomgyu making celebratory noises from where he stood among the spectators and Soobin waved at him with his whole body. As Soobin walked back to the field, Yeonjun smiled at him and made a cheering gesture while mouthing 'fighting, Soobin', unlike Ryujin who stood with a skeptical smile on her face. 

Soobin started the third part as a midfielder, after his team had decided to give him that position and see if he could pull off some similar stunts as he did previously. He couldn't help but feel a little excited from the thought of his members putting some trust on him.

The first few times he got hold of the ball had to be eventually passed to other midfielders, until he found himself going past the defense line, finding no one in a good position to pass to. However, before he could go much closer to the goalpost, an opponent bumped onto him and made him fall. As he lied on the ground, he glanced upward to see Taehyun unapologetically moving away from him.

Soobin glared at Taehyun's back as he stood up and huffed all the way of coming back to his own side of the field after losing the ball from his grip due to the incident. He saw Ryujin jogging toward him and settling herself close to him. 

"Hey, do you really have no fear?" She whispered. "Do you want to turn into a werewolf in front of everybody?"

Soobin understood why Ryujin was concerned. Some moments ago, he had noticeably felt anger stirring within him. However, there was something else in play that Ryujin didn't know about.

"You're worrying too much, Ryujin," Soobin kept his eyes on Yeonjun and felt his heartbeat slowly coming down to moderation, gaining him back his composure in the process. "It's all good,"

Ryujin followed Soobin's line of sight but failed to grasp what her friend was implying, instead she took it as a sign of him dismissing his safety for being close to Yeonjun. _Just where was Soobin's priority?_ She watched Soobin running away with a pleased grin on his face. When she glanced away, she found Taehyun standing idly and looking at her direction with his eyebrows furrowed and eyes glazed with suspicion, as if he wanted to tap into her conversation with Soobin. Feeling Ryujin's stare on him, he polished off his expression and proceeded to engage in the game.

As the game went on, the concept of _keeping it minimalistic_ eventually evaporated from Soobin's brain. The more he got immersed, the more he was being controlled by his temper; and the whole time, he remained unaware of what this fact was doing to him, doing to his eyes, and how he was quietly growling behind his helmet. Well, the helmet could do so much. It was made to shield his head, not shield him from exposing himself.

At some point, Ryujin saw Soobin heading toward a close call, and started considering that, the only way to stop Soobin being aggressive was to play fire with fire. With that in mind, she took the advantage of the crowd to cover a strong but subtle kick around one of his ankle which made him trip and twist his feet. 

The crowd moved away a little as Soobin fell on his front and lied on the ground contemplating why his own teammate would do him this dirty. Before he could turn around and try to get up, Ryujin crouched down and whispered in a threatening manner, "Stay like that, Soobin."

The players paused playing and a few gathered around Soobin as coach made his way toward the injured teen.

"I think he passed out, Coach," Soobin heard Ryujin say as he laid low.

Coach sighed. "Take him to the infirmary, would you?"

Beomgyu ran to the field and supported Soobin's other shoulder as Ryujin lifted him up, all the while Soobin closed his eyes and pretended to not carry his weight as his friends dragged him out from the field. _Enough lacrosse for today, he guesses._

Soobin tried to move his foot around, half-lying on the infirmary bed, after he had rested for a good fifteen minutes. There was no pain and he could confirm his ankle had healed. He met his eyes with Beomgyu who was sitting on the adjacent bed and saw the latter sighing in relief. 

He looked to his front where Ryujin was seated in a chair, a little distant from the bed, with her arms crossed over her chest, "I guess, you are not gonna say sorry,"

"And you are not gonna say thank you,"

"Hey, come on, you two. There's no need for this. I mean, everything worked out,"

"Worked out, my ass. Coach took him in the team," Ryujin returned her gaze to Soobin. "What are you gonna do now? You cannot control your powers,"

"And you can?"

"Don't even try, Soobin. You don't know the half of it,"

"Guys, cut it out. This really isn't the best place to have this discussion. People can hear you," 

"No need to remind me. Soobin is the one who doesn't care about keeping this secret," Ryujin said before standing up and leaving the room. Soobin rolled his eyes and proceeded to do the same. Beomgyu sighed at the sight as him being left all alone in the infirmary. 

Soobin found Yeonjun sitting on the bench outside. It reminded him of the first time he saw Yeonjun through the classroom window. Yeonjun had already changed from his lacrosse uniform and had his bag with him. As soon as he noticed Soobin coming through, he walked toward the taller. _Ah, was Yeonjun waiting for him?_

"Are you okay?" Yeonjun asked with a concerned expression on his face.

"Yeah, it was nothing,"

"It seemed like you sprained your ankle,"

Well, Soobin did and he also healed, but he can't obviously say that to Yeonjun.

"No, I just got a little hurt here and there due to the fall,"

"So, you're okay," Yeonjun slightly smiled.

Soobin took some moment before playfully saying, "You're worried that I will make a habit of it,"

"Well, my friends told me they never really saw you playing lacrosse before," Yeonjun felt like Soobin could get a wrong impression about what he had meant to say, so he immediately added, "I don't want you to stop playing or anything,"

Seeing that Soobin's smile hasn't faltered a bit, Yeonjun shyly glanced away and continued, "I really think it's cool that you're this passionate, but I want you to be careful. I mean, sometimes the game can get rough and our coach doesn't seem like the person who will stop it when it does,"

"Hmm, true. In that case, I have a request,"

"What?" Yeonjun appeared unsure.

"Look out for me in the field...if it's not too much,"

Yeonjun instantly grinned. "Of course, it's not too much. I would have subtly done that anyway even without your request,"

"Yeah?" Soobin arched one of his eyebrows, while his dimpled smile made an appearance. "I am glad," 

"I don't want to make you feel-"

"Don't worry. My ego is not that fragile,"

The teenagers laughed, until Yeonjun heard the sound of a car pulling up in the parking lot and looked in that direction.

"Oh, it's my uncle. I better go," Yeonjun said, but his face looked like he wanted to stay longer, something Soobin wanted too.

"Yeah, uh, see you tomorrow,"

Soobin watched Yeonjun walking away toward a car, whose driver was in the process of getting out. As the man closed the car door and stayed in front of the car waiting for his nephew, could Soobin see the man's face. Even though, right now, the man looked at him with a fatherly smile on his face, Soobin could only see that middle aged man who was standing with a cross-bow aimed at him two nights ago. The smile on Soobin's face faded out with his body tensing at the memory. While he was busy putting himself past the incidents of him being chased by the hunters, the thoughts of coming face to face with one in a such a normal circumstance never occurred to him. _Soobin wished it had._ Because right now, he felt at risk, even though he was still in his human self and the man in front of him carried no weapon. He was in the risk of being recognized, that made him feel ever so exposed. He tried to calm himself down.

The man shouldn't recognize Soobin - it was dark; his face was different, with wolfish features; the interaction was so fleeting. But how could he stop his jitters with rationality, when the man was looking at his direction? No, he wasn't looking at him. He was looking at Yeonjun and didn't even glance twice at Soobin. Oh, how he hoped that things stay that way, and how he hoped Yeonjun's uncle to be anyone other than Mr. Kim himself.


	14. Mind Over Matter

Beomgyu stood right outside the boys' locker room, immersed in his phone, until he felt Soobin pass him by. He looked up from his phone to find his friend walking like a zombie. _Jeez,_ _what came up?_ As he peeped inside, he saw Soobin taking off his protective gears and clothes and dropping them on the ground without a care. Staying in his undershirt, he leaned his back on one of the lockers; the complexion of his face, all pale.

"Uh, Soobin?" Beomgyu walked toward his friend.

"Remember the hunters? His uncle is one of them," Soobin spoke with a hint of panic in his voice.

"His uncle?" Beomgyu looked puzzled. _Who was Soobin talking about?_

"Shot me..."

"Yeonjun's uncle?" Beomgyu tried to confirm his guess.

"...with a cross-bow,"

"Oh my god,"

Beomgyu watched as Soobin started to snivel. _Ah, his friend sure knew how to be childish._ He snapped out of his judgmental self so he could help his friend, and called out, "Soobin!"

It seemed to have no effect on Soobin as he continued to whimper even more.

"Snap out of it," Beomgyu kept tapping on Soobin's cheeks until he came back down to earth and focused on what Beomgyu was saying. "He didn't recognize you, right?"

"No, I don't- I don't think so,"

"Does Yeonjun know about them?"

"Oh, I-I don't know..." Soobin can't believe that he hadn't thought about this prospect. The situation felt too strange for him to think straight. It made him start crying again. "What if he does?"

"Okay, okay, Soobin. Stop crying,"

Beomgyu picked up Soobin's clothes from the ground and pressed them onto the other's chest. "You need to rest. So, just go home and..." He saw how freaked out his friend was. "Try not to think about it for now," 

Beomgyu knew it was a lousy advice, but he couldn't really come up with something for this particular situation. It's not everyday your friend becomes a werewolf and precisely finds that person to date whose family hunts werewolves.

Soobin nodded, still in daze.

When Beomgyu came out of the room, he found Ryujin standing nearby with a worried expression on her face. _There was no doubt she had heard Soobin._ But as if she was pretending otherwise, she simply walked away when she noticed Beomgyu.

As per Beomgyu's advice, Soobin had come home, alright, but he couldn't quite comply with the suggestion of not thinking about the hunters' connection to Yeonjun. So, in pursuit of distracting himself, he tried doing some studies, learning the rules of lacrosse along with watching some matches, and even went out to buy his own lacrosse stick and gears. In spite of all these, he ended up making a little search on the internet about Mr. Kim. He just wanted to know if the man was the head of the Kim family - the family Ryujin mentioned to be one leading the hunters. As it turns out, it is the same person. 

When Soobin went to bed that night, he didn't want to think about how this fact just increases the chance of Yeonjun being a hunter too.

A maroon jersey being held up before Soobin's face made him halt while he was walking down the hallway on the way to his last class of the day. Yeonjun peeked around the jersey and flashed a smile at Soobin.

"Ah~ I finally found you," Yeonjun put down the jersey and spoke carefreely, "You know, I see you everyday, at least three times while changing classrooms, but the day I actually have to talk to you, it's like you disappeared. I thought you didn't come to school today until I asked Ryujin,"

If this was happening any other time before last afternoon, Soobin would have thought how adorable Yeonjun sounded. But now, he just laughed courteously and didn't say anything else. He knew why Yeonjun didn't catch him today. He hasn't particularly decided to avoid Yeonjun or anything like that, but every time he had thought about facing the other, he felt like he needed more time to make himself ready to look past the fact Yeonjun was related to the hunters or could be a potential hunter himself, which made him unconsciously distant himself from the other.

"I found this sitting in coach's office," Yeonjun handed the jersey to Soobin. "He said he was gonna give it to you during practice, but I took it with me so you could get it early. Everyone in the team already has one, so~"

Soobin glanced downward at the jersey in his hands and tried to pay attention to it.

Yeonjun noticed Soobin was focused at the blank space on the back of the jersey. "Oh, none of us has our names printed yet. These are just spares for practice. Coach said he will place order for the real ones by today and get them done before actual matches,"

"Oh,"

Yeonjun saw how Soobin was giving the least amount of response, and figured the other wasn't probably having as much of a good day as himself. In an effort to cheer the taller up and distract him from whatever that was making him down, Yeonjun locked his arms into the other and continued to be chatty as they walked to their English class.

When they have almost reached their classroom, Soobin withdrew his arm and said, "Yeonjun, you go in first. I have to go to the washroom,"

Before Yeonjun could ask if he will save seats for the other, Soobin turned around and walked away. 

"Okay, boys," Coach glanced at Ryujin who was standing right next to him. "and girls, I have some announcements to make. As of yesterday, we have completed our tryout and today we have the whole team here with us. Firstly, I have decided who would be on the captain and vice-captain this season. I hope no one will have much objection over it,"

"Kang Taehyun, vice captain," coach turned toward Taehyun who smiled at the team and returned their high-fives. This sight of Taehyun was so innocent that could make anyone second-guess the persona he carries at other times.

"As for our captain...Shin Ryujin,"

Ryujin softly clapped while grinning so wide that the side of her eyes formed crinkles. A few team members came to pat her and the rest of them applauded and cheered her on. 

The team loved Ryujin, Soobin could just see it. Why wouldn't they? Ryujin was such a beautiful person. She could be responsible and careful while knowing how to have fun and liven up the atmosphere. She has always been perseverant, always seeing to the end of things and finding a way to handle it all. Gosh, the fact that Ryujin chose him as her best friend should make him so fortunate, and yet he was standing nowhere close to Ryujin while hesitating to congratulate her, unaware of the fact that Ryujin was actually rethinking everything since the last twenty-four hour, _her life, personality and the type of person she truly was and wanted to become._

"Secondly, I got a call last night, from my good friend, the lacrosse coach of Hillwood High..."

The team started making disapproving noise at the mention of the school from next town.

Coach laughed. "Yes, I know how much we love that team. And so, I agreed to their proposal of arranging a friendly match with us,"

Coach paused talking in order to let the teenagers be done with giving reactions. "This Saturday,"

"Wow, coach, that's not even a week away," Ryujin commented.

"Yes, that's why, these four days are important. Granted, it's not a formal match or anything, but it's our matter of pride. We've lost all the fateful matches the past three years against them with _mere points_ difference. This Saturday, we will show them we are capable of taking them down and in the tournament this year, we are not just gonna be a finalist. We will get the trophy," 

The players enthusiastically grinned and shouted in unison. "Yeah!"

Coach paired up some people according to what aspect of the lacrosse they should be working on and sent them off with their particular practice regimen, leaving Soobin _obviously_ who needed to work on _basically everything_. Since that won't be possible within four days, Coach settles that he should learn some attack strategies. Then, he could be easily be subbing off their first line attackers when their team needs a change of pace. 

Coach tested Soobin on what he knows and showed some scoring techniques before looking for a player who could help him perfect those moves. In an attempt to avoid being paired with Ryujin or Yeonjun, he quickly mentioned Sungchan's name. Coach looked like he didn't want to put much effort anyway, so he let Soobin go with the goalie.

The confidence Soobin had felt the past few days over trying out on the lacrosse team, using his powers out in the open, blatantly flipping in the air even - he was feeling none of it, particularly with the re-established fear of exposure, which in turn was making Sungchan feel more puzzled than satisfaction to catch every goal Soobin attempted against him. 

"I guess, we can go over what coach taught you earlier," Sungchan tried to be polite.

At some point, Taehyun took over, _no, volunteered to_ take over Sungchan in helping Soobin so the other could be free to practice some proper goalkeeping. 

Taehyun went over in showing him the same few techniques before he started feeling like the taller was simply eyeing his actions and not actually learning anything. As he picked up the ball from the ground using his stick and aimed a throw toward the unattended goalpost, he said, "Stop staring at me like that, Soobin," 

"Kinda hard to do that. You pushed me yesterday," Soobin casually accused.

Taehyun stopped playing and chuckled. "Yesterday, you were my opponent, but now you're part of our team. Besides, I was allowed to push you a little between your shoulder and waist. You never saw coach calling a foul, did you?"

"But if I had shoved you from behind or made a contact here..." Soobin watched as Taehyun went on trying to teach him the different ways of lacrosse fouls, acting as if he never had anything against the taller.

When the practice ended for the day, Ryujin was left wondering how she was supposed to feel about seeing Soobin not even sparing a glance at Yeonjun who looked at the taller with expectant eyes from time to time. It must have been difficult finding the truth about Yeonjun's uncle. What was going through Soobin's mind - she wanted to know but she couldn't really do that, when inside her mind, she was sailing against a rainstorm herself.   
  


On the way home, Soobin found Seungwoo sitting in one of those outdoor restaurants, without much care in the world. 

"You knew about Yeonjun, didn't you?" Soobin settled himself in a seat opposite to the elder. "This is what you meant, when you said that thing about betrayal and all,"

As if Seungwoo came out of his trance, he leaned forward and interlaced his fingers as he placed his elbows on the table. "So, you figured it out,"

"Why couldn't you tell me this directly?"

"Well, it hasn't been long since I found out myself,"

Seungwoo let the waiter set down his food on the table before returning his attention to Soobin. "More importantly, it would bum you out to be hearing it from me. Just like it would," He paused and looked at the bag Soobin was carrying on his shoulder. "...if I told you to stop carrying that stick around and... _quit lacrosse,"_

Soobin appeared worked up and immediately responded, "That's right. I am not gonna quit lacrosse," 

Seungwoo momentarily withdrew himself from the conversation, mostly to let Soobin cool off, and immersed himself in the food in front of him.

"Your boyfriend- he's in the team as well, right?" Seungwoo watched as Soobin knit his eyebrows together. "Who knows if you will even make past practice sessions before he snitches you out to his family?"

"He isn't part of this! He doesn't know anything," Soobin retorted. He wasn't sure if this was really the truth, but the words came out in the heat of the moment.

Seungwoo leaned back on his chair and pulled the corner of his lips, as if he was considering what Soobin had said. "Hmm, maybe. But how long till he does? It's only a matter of time, Soobin."

The elder watched how Soobin was getting grim by the seconds and continued, "Being friends with the people who hunts your kind can never get anywhere good. I have personal experience to vouch for that. I have seen my friend die because he put his trust on a member of that Kim family,"

 _Personal experience?_ Soobin remembered Ryujin telling him about how the hunter could have been responsible for the fire in the Han house. But, Seungwoo wasn't talking about the fire, was he?He mentioned a friend- a friend who trusted the hunters. 

_**Then the fire incident happened. Around the same time my cousin brother disappeared.** _

Soobin tried to recall the other story about Ryujin's cousin. _**He wasn't much of a pack person, and he was close with this boy...who turned out to be a werewolf hunter.**_ _Could it be that the person Seungwoo was talking about-_

Seungwoo cut through Soobin's chain of thoughts. "Listen, Soobin, it's up to you about what you want to do. The hunters already know about my identity and I have nothing to lose. You, on the other hand, not only risk yourself but also the Shin pack,"

 _And didn't Soobin already know that? Then, how could be so stupid?_ Maybe Soobin wanted to see himself as more than a cursed person. There is so much life ahead of him. He was just a teenager, and like other people of his age, he just wanted to make memories, he just wanted to experience new things, he wanted to act on his crush, _he just...wanted to be happy_.

With a sudden solemn voice, Seungwoo added, "I hope you don't ignore the gravity of your actions before you head out,"

"He choose to leave himself. He had been planning it for a while. And do you know, Yeonjun, when he told me about it?" Wooyoung kept talking.

Yeonjun tried to hide his awkwardness with a fake enthusiastic smile while shaking his head no. It's not like he had any problem with Wooyoung telling him about his ex, but Yeonjun didn't even know San. So, every time Wooyoung somehow managed to bring San into a conversation, Yeonjun could't help but feel lost.

"Four days before he left," Wooyoung emphasized, so Yeonjun could also feel how outrageous that fact was.

"We've been dating for so long, but it seems he had no dignity for it," Wooyoung scoffed. "Well, who cares? It's not like he was the only one for me,"

Wooyoung took some moment before declaring, "I am going to date so many people..."

"One by one? Or, all at once?" Yeosang snickered.

Wooyoung playfully smacked his friend. "It seems you are having too much fun out of my sufferings,"

"Hey, aren't you the one at fault for suffering because of a guy like him? He was my childhood friend too, but even I know how much of a jerk he had become the past one year,"

Yeosang stared at the boy sitting across him, "Aren't you feeling awkward, Yeonjun? This guy just keeps talking about his ex,"

Yeonjun straightened up suddenly, feeling like he had gotten caught, and tried to defend himself, "Huh? Oh, no, it's okay. I am just trying to catch up,"

"There's no need. San is history. It will take some time for my friend here to get it through his thick skull, but he will agree eventually,"

"I don't need time to agree with that," Wooyoung stated and then with a soft, hesitant tone, he added, "I know he was a bit of a jerk to other people at times, but I've known him for so long. You can't expect me to move on that easily,"

Yeosang lowered his volume and spoke in a teasing tone, while shifting his gaze to someone sitting at a distance from them. "I am not expecting you to move on easily. I am just telling you not to lose sight of someone who can treat you better,"

Wooyoung didn't look too convinced. Yeonjun turned around a little to see who Yeosang was hinting at, to find Jihoon immersed in the book laid in front of him. From the interactions so far, Jihoon felt like a nice guy to him, and he wondered if it would be okay to root for him.

Wooyoung suddenly said, "Enough about me. Tell us about how things are going with Soobin," 

_**Rhodes ft. Birdy - Let It All Go** _

Soobin headed toward the library during his free period to get some sleep. He snapped out of his zoned-out self as soon as he found Yeonjun sitting opposite to Yeosang and Wooyoung. Even though the other was too busy gossiping with the two juniors to notice him, he immediately took a step backward and hid behind one of the bookshelves. He silently stood there, with his supernatural hearing providing him the chance to listen to the conversation happening a few meters away.

"I hope he is nothing like San," Yeosang remarked.

"Well, Soobin is..." Yeonjun thought back to those moments he had shared with the boy who introduced himself after handing him a pen out of the blue on his first class in this school. Ever since then, Soobin had managed to say something unexpected in their conversation, and Yeonjun is yet to find out how he does it. It's those moments that had brought him out of his bunker and shooed his second-guesses, in turn it also built a net of expectations that leaves Yeonjun hanging, wondering if Soobin will be there to help him up if he ever slips. 

Yeonjun doesn't like that unpredictability - the loose strings in that net.

He tries to keep his voice casual as he vaguely phrases out his feelings to his new friends. "Honestly, I don't know how to describe this. It feels like I am reading too much into his acts,"

Yeosang scoffs. "Trust me, that's not the case, most of the time. Is he acting suspicious?"

"Hmm, no. It just that he is this sweet guy most of the time, but there are times he doesn't look like he is interested in me at all. I can't seem to figure him out,"

"Do you think he could be cheating?"

Wooyoung sends Yeosang a deadpan look. "You just immediately jump down to that? It's not been even a proper week since they started dating. There's no way he could be cheating,"

Yeosang remains unimpressed as the other continues, "Maybe he has a family problem, or some personal issues. Know anything like that?"

"Well, we didn't have much opportunity to talk since, you know, him being distant and all," 

While everything unexpected Soobin had phrased pulled Yeonjun in, it was not what he kept looking forward to. _He liked their easy conversation, their casual disagreements, Soobin's genuine opinions, the comfort of letting himself loose, the warmth on his skin from being touched by the other._ He is aware that it has only been a week, and there's no way he could feel so strongly about someone in such a little time. So, what would it mean if he couldn't stop himself from thinking about their easy conversation, their casual disagree-

Yeonjun caught a glimpse of a familiar tall figure walking through the aisle toward the exit. "I think I saw Soobin pass by,"

Yeosang and Wooyoung whisked their head in the direction Yeonjun was looking.

"Do you want to go?" Yeosang asked.

It doesn't matter if Yeonjun goes. He doesn't know what he could say to fix whatever that is going on with Soobin. _Hell, he doesn't even know what went wrong._

Yeonjun faked a smile. "No, it's okay. I can catch him later,"

Soobin stared monotonously at the empty field as he remained seated in the bleachers. The sun was out, for sure, given how bright everything looked bathed under its light. But Soobin knows it was not a sunny day, the sky was all white and the heat didn't reach his skin. _In all, it was a great weather to be plagued by thoughts._

Soobin felt a figure sitting next to him, and he sent a little glance in that direction to see it was Ryujin.

"I owe you an apology, Ryujin," Soobin finally opened his mouth, after sitting in silence with the girl.

She looked a little startled because of the sudden apology. "Huh? Me too, I guess,"

"No, that was thoughtful of you to warn me and watch my back," Soobin spun around in his seat to face Ryujin and meet her gaze as he kept talking with a sincere tone, "You have lived your whole as a werewolf. So, of course, you know better. And despite all the risks, you decided to help me, while I have been nothing but ungrateful and spoiled..."

"It's okay to be spoiled, Soobin," Ryujin chuckled. Noticing the awe on Soobin's face, she continued, "I mean, isn't it normal for people to explore their abilities? Why should it be different for werewolves? There's no point in denying our true selves. I know, we live in a sad reality, but..."

She glanced away, trying to find the words for the perspective she wanted to provide Soobin. "You shouldn't let opportunities for happiness pass you by. Yes, I have lived my whole life as a werewolf, but it doesn't mean I know how to make everything work. I struggled a lot, and I am struggling. That's life,"

Ryujin smiled at the sight of Soobin holding an affectionate look in his eyes and listening to her attentively. He had his eyebrows raised up, like he was trying to comprehend everything she was telling him.

"Soobin, the past few days, I was thinking...and there's one thing I realized. You are not me. You can do things differently. You don't have to chain yourself like I do and miss out on life,"

"You don't have to miss out on your life either, Ryujin," Soobin spoke in an encouraging tone.

"Right," Ryujin's face lit up with a wistful smile. "Not today though. But one day, sure, I would be able to do everything I want,"

The conversation with Ryujin floated around Soobin's head as he kept walking on the mildly crowded corridors on the way to his class. 

_What do you think I should do, Ryujin?_

He stopped in his track when he found Yeonjun standing at the end of a hallway, too busy chatting with his friends to notice Soobin standing in the distant. But he knows that Yeonjun will eventually notice, and Soobin didn't want to avoid him anymore.

 _Listen to your heart._ What would he pick up from the listening?

_Don't focus on the surrounding matters of you or him. Just think about, how does Yeonjun make you feel?_

As Soobin watched Yeonjun animatedly talk in the center of a faded background, he was aware of his increasing heartbeat. But he knew it was not a response to any feelings of rage or anxiety. He was aware of a feeling of rush flowing through his veins. But it wasn't like those time he was engaged in any athletic activity. No, the feelings in his chest was something different. It didn't unnerve him to start shifting into his werewolf form. Even with the elevating pulse and tingling sensation, there was a strange calmness about it all. And it was like nothing he felt before.

As soon as Yeonjun was done conversing with his friends, he saw Soobin slowly walking toward him. Unlike the past day and half, the taller didn't glance away when their eyes met and Yeonjun didn't know if it would be too unreasonable of him to expect something good out of it.

_Do you want to pursue him? Or let go?_

Soobin knows if the higher power had something bad written out for him, he would have no other way than to face it. However, it was no excuse for throwing caution to the wind. So, he will just have to be a little careful - _it's okay, it be worth it_. It be will be worth it because it would be so much harder living with the regret of letting Choi Yeonjun slip out of his fingers, without even knowing what they could have become.

"I would like to take you on a date, any day next week. You know, after the game," Soobin said as he lowered his gaze to meet Yeonjun's who had walked into his space.

_Once again, something unexpected from Soobin._

"Thought you'd never ask,"

"Why?"

"I thought you were just being polite with that talk about second chance, because you feel bad about leaving me in the party," Yeonjun paused and slowly said, "...that you lost your interest in me,"

While Soobin had been away with his thoughts, he completely left out what Yeonjun could be feeling. Even though, he honestly didn't even expect Yeonjun to be thinking so much about him, he realizes he is guilty for hurting Yeonjun.

"It's not that easy. Ask anyone. They will tell you how Choi Yeonjun is such a irresistible person. In fact, I was thinking about staying prepared about for competition,"

"Uh-huh?" Yeonjun smiled and wet his lips. "Well, I have a class now, and sadly it's not with you. But, I think it will give you enough time to start this preparation you're talking about,"

Soobin laughed and Yeonjun kept thinking about how it won't be so bad getting used to their easy conversations, their casual disagreements, Soobin's genuine opinions, the comfort of letting himself loose, the warmth on his skin from being touched by the other.


	15. On Top of the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this looks like a filler chapter, but it was needed for some character introduction. So, I tried to make it short. Hope you enjoy~

Soobin was walking across the hallways until he spotted Yeonjun coming down the short staircase and stopped in his track. He smiled at Yeonjun as soon as the latter noticed him waiting. Within a few seconds of Yeonjun coming near him, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Soobin pulled out his phone to find a text from Seokjin.

"It's my brother," Soobin informed with a smile on his face as he saw Yeonjun looking at him with curiosity. "He's nothing," 

Yeonjun looked at him weirdly, which made him go over the sentence that just came out. 

Soobin became flustered and immediately went to correct himself, "Sorry, I mean, it's nothing concerning. He just told me about him coming to the game tonight,"

Yeonjun laughed at the sight of Soobin being dorky.

"Well, my uncle's coming too,"

 _Of course, he is._ Soobin really needs to start suppressing his urge to shudder at the mention of Yeonjun's uncle.

"So, Jihoon and Wooyoung have planned a hangout, although it feels kind of like a date," Yeonjun provided, at some point during their lunch. Oblivious to how Beomgyu froze at the news and Ryujin stared at the boy with pity, Yeonjun continued, "They are going to this bowling place tomorrow evening,"

"Okay?" Soobin said, unsure of where the conversation was heading.

"Well, I was thinking what we could do for our date...and since Wooyoung suggested we could join them if we want-"

Soobin was still quite reserved about Yeonjun's friends, so he asked, "Do you want to go _with them_?"

"I think it would be fun," Yeonjun answered, totally missing the hint of prejudice diffusing from Soobin's words. "We can stay for a while and leave them alone afterwards, walk around the town or whatever,"

"Okay, I guess we can go,"

Soobin understood the importance of prioritizing road safety over appreciating Yeonjun's handsomeness as he grew aware of the light that fell on him from the front light of the car heading his way. The car managed to stop in time, but it still knocked him to the ground. Yeonjun ran to him immediately after witnessing the incident.

"Uncle, what did you do?"

 _Uncle?_ Soobin looked up as he rubbed his back to get rid of the slight pain caused by the fall, to see Mr. Kim staring at him with a concerned expression on his face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you," Mr. Kim offered his hand to help Soobin up.

Taking the sentence out of the context of getting hit by his car, Soobin was actually relieved not to be seen by Mr. Kim.

"No, it's my fault. I didn't look where I was going,"

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Yeonjun interrupted.

"Don't worry. I am okay,"

Mr. Kim watched as his nephew and the other boy being lost in their own world. He cleared his throat to get their attention. "So, Yeonjun, is this your new friend?"

"Oh, uncle, this is Soobin."

"It's nice to meet you, Soobin," Mr. Kim extended his hand.

Soobin shook hands with the elder. "Same here..." 

"Mr. Kim," He smiled.

As Soobin proceeded to go out of the changing room, he saw a Hillwood player bumping onto Taehyun near the door. The messy long locks of his black hair partly covered his cat-like eyes and even though he was almost the same height as Taehyun, it appeared as if he was looking down at the other. 

The boy looked like he was about to say something but a 'tsk' is what simply came out of him and he moved away after meeting his eyes with the other. Soobin managed to read the name 'Hwang' on the other's jersey before he followed his vice-captain out of the room. He feels like he had definitely heard Ryujin complaining about a Hwang when the team had lost to Hillwood High in the finale of the tournament last year.

Soobin walked at Taehyun's side as they headed toward the field. "I can't believe he was being rude even though it was clearly his fault. More importantly, you didn't threaten him!"

Taehyun sent the taller an impassive look. "Is that what you think I do? Threaten people?"

Soobin shrugged teasingly. "At least, could've said something,"

"Well, I just didn't feel like it,"

"You sure you weren't scared?"

Taehyun laughed. "You know, there are five other substitute besides you, so if something were to happen to you- "

"Gosh, I take it back," Soobin whined. "Man, you're scarier than him,"

Ryujin felt a pair of hands squeezing onto her shoulder, making her slide out of her nerves as she glanced upward.

"Oh, it's you, Yeonjun," She relaxed to let the taller give her a massage. "Thanks,"

Yeonjun smiled while making a two-finger salute. "Anything for you, captain,"

Ryujin instinctively chuckled.

"So, I understand our team has some kind of history with theirs, but is it always this intense?"

"Well..." Ryujin glanced at a boy wearing the Hillwood jersey, who Yeonjun noticed, possessed sharp facial features. "How you feel if I told you they got a new captain who used to be ours?"

"Is that Choi San?" Yeonjun asked, in awe.

"In the flesh,"

_**Fall Out Boy - Irresistible**_

The teams pack up their preparation. The audience who were out to buy snacks returns to their seats. The sound temporarily dies down a bit in the atmosphere. 

The game was about to start.

"This feels kind of weird, doesn't it?" San said after reaching the centerline where Ryujin had already taken her place. "My most passes after the face-off would be to you and now I am taking it from you,"

The referee placed the ball on the ground between the captains. "Down!"

"It is weird..." Ryujin bended down for the face-off followed by San.

"Set!"

Ryujin looked her smug opponent in the eye. "senior, how you're awfully sure you can block me," 

The shrill sound of the whistle blared through.

Within a few seconds, Ryujin beat San in getting hold of the ball, but she knew it was too soon for her to be happy about it. She watched the existing air around San being smothered by a sudden display of determination as he narrowed his eyes and chased down the midfielder whom she had passed the ball to. It was the same look from those times when Ryujin used to follow his lead, the same look when she would pass the ball to her captain and trust him to make one more goal. She had admired that look for a long time. It was a reminder of how she was not alone in her passion. As she watched San retrieving the ball in between the next minute, she understood, that reminder wasn't going to be serving much encouragement tonight, because when you think about it, it only means how San wouldn't back down from winning just as much as Ryujin, _and frankly, that's gonna be a problem._

As the halftime break started, Ryujin gathered the team at the sideline where their coach stood.

Ryujin saw Sungchan coming in from the goalpost, all sweaty and huffing.

"You were good, Sungchan"

"Not good enough to stop any of Hyunjin's goals. That guy plays like a beast,"

A beast, huh? Ryujin tried to hold herself back from wavering the serious expression on her face as she thought back to the time someone once told her that they had heard Hyunjin growling. 

Well, laying off the literal aspect of that phrasing, it was still so justified that Ryujin couldn't say something in counter to encourage her teammates, that she knew no one would buy it. Hyunjin was the always the number one threat for the opponents of Hillwood. There were players taller and broader than him in that team, but their demeanor was nowhere near as intimidating as him. 

Ryujin took a look at the scoreboard. "We are just five points behind. And we still have two quarters left. We can do it, guys."

Coach looked at the tired players and said, "Just ten minutes,"

"What?"

"If we can't make a progress within that time, we will go for our plan B,"

"Isn't it too soon to be bring Soobin in?"

"No, it will be perfect. We don't know if Soobin can actually be playing well against them. So, the last few minutes will be given as a sort of a test for him," Taehyun explained to Ryujin.

 _And it will be a test for Ryujin too._ She won't be much of a help to her friend since she will be staying occupied in the field, which left her with only the choice to trust Soobin in keeping himself under control once he goes in.

Roughly five minutes before the third quarter ends, Soobin felt Coach grabbing his shoulder from behind.

"Kid, you need to get ready to go in now,"

Soobin softly blew through his mouth. Just two weeks ago, he would have never imagined that he would be playing a real lacrosse match. But here he is, and he must admit it was a strange feeling, specially with so many people watching. He can't afford to embarrass himself here.

He stood up and checked if his protective gears were fastened properly. Before putting on his helmet, he glanced at the audience to find Seokjin who smiled and gave a double thumbs up at him.

Mr. Kim should also be somewhere in the audience. As if concealing the use of his werewolf powers in front of these many people wasn't a challenge enough.

Only half a minute was left until the third quarter ends, when Yeonjun finds an opening for passing to Soobin, and just within a few seconds of Soobin receiving the ball, Yeonjun sees his fellow attacker making his first goal. He immediately runs to the other for celebration. 

Yeonjun comes around from the back while Soobin is busy taking off his own helmet, takes Soobin's hand and watches as the other meet his gaze. Soobin grins back and feels the other ruffling his hairs. When Yeonjun moves away from Soobin to let the rest of the team cheer him on as well, he takes a glance at the scoreboard. Three more points and they would be even with Hillwood. It had been difficult so far, but with Soobin by their side, they might just make it.

Taehyun kneels down opposite to San for the face-off in the fourth quarter. As the boys contests for possession of the ball, it goes up flying. Before the ball can make it to the ground, Soobin runs to reach behind Taehyun and leaps up in the air, scooping up the ball from the top of San. San watches in shock as Soobin lands next to him, the taller's feet brushing ever so lightly on his shoulder pad, and Soobin doesn't stop once he starts running again. He dodges players left and right, ducking when needed as he makes a beeline for the goalpost on Hillwood's side. Then, he scores.

Two more points to draw. Three more to win. The world doesn't appear red through Soobin's eyes, _yet._ But his heart is beating against his chest from all the fast running and this means he could be a goner.

"What's with this teammate of yours - Choi Soobin?" San asked as he prepared himself for the faceoff against Taehyun.

"He's just a new player, senior, who happens to be very persistent to the point it makes him stupid enough to take unnecessary risk for himself," Taehyun replied casually and laughed. "But recently, I think I am starting to admire him. Maybe if you stayed, I would have helped you to get along with him,"

_Heh, Taehyun sure knows how to run his mouth with that stoic personality of his._

San plunges for the ball and successfully carries it off into his opponent's side. Soon Hyunjin joins him far on the left, ready to lift the burden off his captain if the former came to the brink of losing the ball. The defense of Beacon Hills falls as the balls keeps getting passed between the two boys until San finally scores.

The time on the digital board moves forward without a care of how the game just keeps becoming intense by the minute.

By the time only three minutes was remaining, Beacon Hills High manages to bring the score to a point behind Hillwood. 

Soobin huffs from the running, but he knows he can't stop. It has been impossible for him to score if he didn't focus well enough and didn't use more than what his human agility allowed. He had tried it but it only ended with losing the ball to the opponent's defense.

Why are the Hillwood High players making it so damn hard? It's like they wanted Soobin to go all in.

Soobin watched from the back as one of the defenders of Hillwood who had managed to snatch away the ball from him passing it to Hyunjin. He felt frustrated thinking the reason why Hyunjin had the ball with him was because Soobin had lost it. 

Ryujin circled around Hyunjin trying to block any opening as she waited for her teammates to surround him as well. If this guy scores now, it would leave them no chance for winning and the two minutes that will remain afterward would be a hell to pass by, playing just for the sake of finishing the game and then going through the fate already determined for them. 

A long, low growl reaches her ears from the other side of the field. _Oh no, Soobin._

She doesn't waver though, she believes no one else could have heard that, it was only her because she has an enhanced hearing. So, she stays occupied with the opponent in front of her who seems... _a little distracted?_ Ryujin doesn't hesitate to shove the head of her stick up into the other's stick pocket, for which the ball bounces out before falling on the ground. She scoops up the ball before him and runs toward Soobin with Hyunjin trailing behind her.

Soobin makes no intention to confront the defenders once he receives the ball from his midfielder friend, so he just keeps his speed and continues to sidestep any opponent who stands in his way until he makes the goal.

Everything in front of Soobin was red and every time he focused on something, the things in his periphery would blur out completely - like an effect from those photo editing apps. He could feel the fangs inside his mouth. It must have emerged sometime ago, but he was too immersed in the game to understand it before. This is strange. Soobin still has his awareness, he still has his control...even though he had transformed. He brings his palms up to see the holes in his gloves around the tips of his fingers made by his claws. He has to hide them for one more minute. 

The same one minute that determines the fate of the game. 

Taehyun managed to come pretty forward into the opponent's territory before he decides to pass Soobin the ball, even though he had a clearing and he could make the goal himself if he ran. _No, there was a time constraint._ Taehyun wasn't sending him the ball so he could confront the three defenders in front of him, it's so he could make use of his speedy throws. _Those damn speedy throws from his tryout._

After recovering from his body recoiling due to catching the ball from a distance, he immediately maneuvered his stick according to the aim he had mentally fixed at an area on the goal net. The ball initially whisked by high in the air but came down just enough before it entered the goalpost, and in between the last few second of the match one more point was given to Soobin's team.

_**VÉRITÉ - Phase Me Out** _ ****

Soobin pulled the gloves off his hand and let them fall on the ground. He couldn't stick around for the celebration. He couldn't let anyone see him in this state. So, he stormed off before his teammate could even come near him, _before Yeonjun could come near him_.  
  


Ryujin watched Soobin hastily leaving the field, but she soon realized whatever Soobin wanted to accomplish by hiding wasn't going to happen, because there was Yeonjun who followed him out of the field. She quickly headed to where Beomgyu was, so they could prevent Yeonjun from finding the truth about their best friend. 

"Beomgyu, we have to-"

The pretty girl sitting next to Beomgyu, whose name he got to know as Lee Chaeryeong through small talks during the game, leapt into hugging Ryujin. His best friend stood there with her eye wide in surprise and she was... _blushing?_

Sigh, he can't believe Ryujin didn't mention about Chaeryeong to him.

"Soobin!"

Yeonjun had hastily entered the locker room and taken several steps before realizing how dark the room appeared as he slowly looked around.

"Soobin, are you there?"

No response came his way. The silence added to the sudden feeling of fear that had started to prance around his body. No, the atmosphere only feels eerie because of the lack of lights. He will just turn-- a growling noise echoing inside the room froze him from taking further steps toward the switchboard. Yeonjun hated this, not being to move his body even though his mind was clear about what he was to do in this situation. Maybe it was a product of dealing with his overprotective family, but nothing annoyed him more than being controlled by fear.

He took a deep breath and dashed toward the switchboard near the door, where he pressed on all of the switches with one sweep of his hand. The whole room lights up, and Yeonjun can see how things were just as they were left two hours ago.

He sighed in relief. 

Soon, a grunting noise came to his attention and he followed the source of the sound. "Soobin, is it you?"

As he neared the showering area, he found Soobin facing the wall while resting his head onto it and called out his name. Soobin slowly turned toward him.

"What happened?"

Soobin put out a closed eyed smile, "Nothing. I just...got a little overwhelmed by the game,"

Yeonjun talked in a soft voice, "Well, you're pretty wild out there, but it helped us win. It's also your first game,"

A grin spread out onto Soobin's face at those words.

"I don't think anyone can imagine it was your first. I loved how you were so bold out there. "

Soobin took a few steps to close the gap between them. He slowly leaned in, "Would it be too bold if I...?"

Yeonjun watched as Soobin's face drew closer and closer...until he could feel the other's lips on his. For the first few seconds, he couldn't feel anything against his fast beating heart, but as he closed his eyes, it seems as if the sensation of the kiss was taking up his entirety and he wondered if Soobin felt the same.

When Soobin pulled away, Yeonjun looked at him with a shy grin on his face. 

"Let's go join the others," Yeonjun beamed as he headed out first.

Beomgyu and Ryujin were almost at the door, trying to get away, when Yeonjun caught sight of them. 

He wondered how long they could have been there, and awkwardly said, "Hey, guys?"

"Oh, Yeonjun!" Beomgyu suddenly came to his side, put his arms around the taller's shoulder and flashed a grin. "We were just here to ask your thoughts about joining this tradition Ryujin have..."

Beomgyu swayed the other with talking as they walked out.

Ryujin turned around to see Soobin slowly coming in, smiling from ears to ears. "We came to check because we were worried, but it seems like you're okay,"

"I don't know how, but I think I controlled it. I pulled myself back."

Ryujin looked happy for her best friend as he spoke in a hopeful tone, "It was not so bad, after all. Maybe I can do this."

The team had left Soobin alone after the celebration and Seokjin also went home after congratulating him and telling him how proud and happy he was for his younger brother. He saw Yeonjun coming his way until the latter's friends beaconed him to come to them. As he waited for Yeonjun to return, his eyes fell at a distance where Taehyun and Hyunjin was talking to each other, with another Hillwood player standing next to them. 

Were they friends? 

It appeared as if Hyunjin was angry while the other Hillwood player and Taehyun was trying to calm him down by talking sense to him.

As he concentrated on the three people, he could hear Hyunjin flaring up "...born, but he was made..."

Taehyun spoke, "Come on, Hyunjin. Let's have this conversation somewhere else. You know he can hear you,"

_What the hell were they going on about?_

"Hey," Yeonjun poked him to get his attention.

"Oh, hi," He spared a glance at the place to see the three of them walking away, before turning to Yeonjun. "So, are you coming to the diner with us?"

"Ryujin's tradition?"

Soobin laughed. "Yeah,"

Yeonjun smiled. "Of course,"

"I thought your friends would ask you to come with them,"

"They did, but..." Yeonjun came closer and slowly wrapped both of his arms around the back of Soobin's neck. "I want to hang out with my boyfriend tonight,"

Amidst the cheers and complaints, only San still stayed standing on the field, wondering how the game ended the way it did. He had no doubt about how talented the Hillwood players were. He couldn't win any games against them when he was part of his previous team. Now that he had become a Hillwood player himself, _how come he is still in the losing side?_

San walks toward the gloves he saw Soobin leaving behind. He picks the pairs up, and notices something odd. There were distinct holes around the fingertips. 

He had a hunch there was something strange about Soobin, and now these torn gloves...but what did it even mean? If this could point to something that can make him stronger than that nobody from his previous school, then he would just have to wait and find out.


End file.
